Alvin Bragg Announces New Ghost Gun Indictment

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the criminal indictment of a man accused of making “ghost guns” and testing homemade weapons in Central Park.

Ghost guns are typically untraceable firearms made using 3D printers and gun-making kits that include essential parts such as receivers, which can be modified and assembled by people at home.

The emergence of these weapons in recent years has inspired a wave of regulatory laws at the federal and state levels, including in New York, where weapons are banned if they do not have a serial number.

Bragg, who has recently been in the national spotlight for his indictment of former President Donald Trump for falsifying business records, has charged Roberto Guerrero, 29, with more than 50 felony counts and crimes related to the alleged manufacturing of phantom weapons. scheme.

A press release issued Wednesday said authorities arrested Guerrero in March after seizing parts including receivers “modeled after a traditional AR-15 weapon,” ammunition and “two fully operational assault weapons printed in 3D” during a raid on his Harlem apartment.

“As has been alleged, Roberto Guerrero threatened the safety of all New Yorkers, including his own children, when he decided to manufacture and stockpile 3D printed weapons, some of which were fully operational, at him,” Bragg said in a statement included in the press release.

“As the technology behind 3D weapons continues to improve, the weapons produced become more and more sophisticated,” he added. “Gun violence remains our top priority and while I am pleased that shootings and homicides have decreased significantly since I took office, we must remain diligent and leverage every tool at our disposal to combat gun violence. ghost weapons and ultimately prevent gun violence.”

Bragg's office claims that Guerrero “at least since September 2023” created the weapons using 3D printers and gun parts that he had shipped to his home while buying and selling components “by through several online retailers under various pseudonyms” and advertising his designs in videos. Guerrero's wife was separately charged with aiding in the manufacturing operation.

New York City Police Commissioner Edward Caban said the “weapons cache” Guerrero allegedly possessed “had the potential to cause horrific carnage,” accusing the defendant of making videos of himself appearing to fire these weapons, including in Central Park on five occasions. .

It was unclear whether or not Guerrero had legal representation at the time of publication. News week contacted Bragg's office for comment via email Wednesday.

Guerrero faces criminal charges including criminal possession of a firearm or weapon and manufacturing, transporting and damaging weapons. He was also charged with dozens of misdemeanor counts, including failure to safely store firearms, endangering the welfare of a child and illegal possession of ammunition.

Bragg, alongside Democratic lawmakers Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Linda Rosenthal, introduced legislation last year that would strengthen ghost gun laws in New York by banning the sharing of blueprints for making parts with 3D printers.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to consider the issue later this year in an appeal against a 2022 federal law that regulates ghost guns by requiring them to have a serial number.