In Salinas, California, police have apprehended two individuals with gang connections on multiple weapons charges, including the production of “ghost guns” using several 3-D printers. Carlos Salinas, 37, and Isaac Sanchez, 36, were arrested on Saturday afternoon as part of an ongoing investigation.
The Salinas Police Department’s Violence Suppression Task Force discovered that Carlos Salinas was creating firearm parts using 3-D printers in his apartment. He would then assemble these 3-D printed parts with other gun components to make fully functional weapons, which he sold from his residence.
These homemade firearms are often referred to as privately made firearms, ghost guns, or P80s. Authorities obtained a search warrant for Salinas’ residence and detained him during a traffic stop, during which they found a loaded 9mm semi-automatic PMF handgun in the driver’s door pocket.
Upon executing the search warrant at the apartment, police detained Isaac Sanchez and discovered 18 semi-automatic handgun lower receivers, 18 metal handgun slides, 3 AR-rifle lower receivers, various firearm parts, three fully functional 3D printers, numerous high-capacity magazines, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and $5,500 in cash.
According to police, ghost guns lack serial numbers, making them untraceable. Fully assembled and operational handguns can sell for between $600 and $1,500 on the street, depending on their quality. These handguns can also be converted to fire automatically.
The process of manufacturing ghost guns with 3-D printers involves producing rough and raw handgun frames, which are then shaped using a Dremel tool or a file to resemble actual handgun frames or receivers, as explained by the police.
