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The brazen killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO was likely carried out with a ghost gun, one of the nearly untraceable weapons that can be made a home, police said Monday.
A ghost gun is a firearm without a serial number, and police believe the one used in last week’s shooting of Brian Thompson may have been made with a 3D printer. It was capable of firing 9 mm rounds. The man arrested in the crime, Luigi Mangione, also had sound suppressor, or silencer, police said.
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Ghost guns have increasingly turned up at crime scenes around the U.S. in recent years.
Here’s a look at the weapons and efforts to regulate them:
The firearms are privately made and have no serial numbers.
Generally, firearms manufactured by licensed companies must have serial numbers — usually displayed on the frame of the gun — that allow officials to trace the gun back to the manufacturer, the firearms dealer and original purchaser.
Ghost guns, however, are made of parts that the owner can assemble together.