Baltimore settles ‘ghost gun’ lawsuit for $1.2M, blocking sales to Marylanders

The city of Baltimore has reached a settlement in its lawsuit against the country’s leading manufacturer of ghost gun kits, Mayor Brandon M. Scott announced Wednesday morning.

Baltimore will receive $1.2 million in damages from Polymer80, with settlement terms the mayor’s office has said are “the most expansive and strictest injunctive terms” of any similar lawsuits brought by other jurisdictions. As part of the settlement, Polymer80 is permanently prohibited from advertising in Maryland and selling ghost guns to Maryland residents, the mayor’s office said in a news release.

The settlement also specifies that Polymer80 must ban its dealers in nearby states from selling ghost guns to Maryland residents, cease all customer support in Maryland and provide quarterly reports to the city documenting all sales of ghost guns in neighboring states.

Ghost guns are firearms that are privately assembled — without a serial number — and are largely untraceable.

The mayor’s office said ghost guns continue to be a prevalent source of gun violence in Baltimore. In 2023, the Baltimore Police Department seized 462 ghost guns and has seized 43 ghost guns so far this year, up 30% from this time last year.

“Nine out of ten homicides in Baltimore City are committed with guns,” Scott said in a news release. “We must hold everyone who has a hand in this violence accountable, from those who choose to pull the trigger, all the way up to the gun dealers and manufacturers responsible for the flow of guns into our city.”

Scott praised the settlement as a “critical victory” for the city’s effort to reduce gun violence.

Counsel for Polymer80 did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Philip Bangle, senior litigation counsel for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and counsel for the Baltimore mayor and city counsel in the lawsuit, said the settlement is a victory for Baltimore and the fight for gun industry accountability.

Though there remains the ability for ghost guns to reach the state of Maryland, Bangle said this settlement and its terms change the sale of ghost guns from being an “open market on the internet” to a transaction “done behind closed doors.”

“The only market for ghost guns is people who can’t legally buy them in a gun store,” Bangle said, referring to individuals such as juveniles and criminals.

“When you’re buying a gun, the single most important factor is the reliability of that gun,” Bangle said. “Nobody buying a gun wants — when they have a moment of need to use a gun — for something to happen, for it to jam, or anything like that.”

Bangle said ghost guns, unlike their Glock counterparts, can be purchased without a background check and cannot be traced back to their owner if used in a crime.

Karen Herren, executive director of Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence, said Baltimore’s settlement is a “significant step” in addressing the flow of untraceable firearms into the city’s communities.

“The fact that it extends to shops beyond Maryland’s borders and thus counters that argument that Maryland residents will just drive to nearby states is particularly encouraging,” Herren said in an email.

Baltimore’s settlement with Polymer80 and the ongoing lawsuit against Hanover Armory are the latest in the city’s fight to reduce gun violence.

In December, the city of Baltimore sued the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for failing to share gun crime data with local policymakers.

Though Baltimore recorded a 20% annual decrease in homicides last year, with less than 300 homicides for the first time in nearly a decade, city and state officials and lawmakers continue to weigh options for reducing gun violence.

One piece of legislation, backed by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, is the proposed Center for Firearm Violence Prevention. The center, which would cost $10 million to create, would be based out of the Maryland Department of Health and work across state and local agencies to obtain recommendations from public health experts and communities disproportionately impacted by gun violence.

Ebony M. Thompson, city solicitor, said reducing gun crimes requires a multi-faceted approach.

“That includes bringing suits like this action against Polymer80, as well as the lawsuit that we are pursuing against ATF to obtain important gun tracing data that would allow cities like ours to see from where illegal firearms are coming,” Thompson said.

Baltimore brought the lawsuit against Polymer80 in 2022 in response to the rapid escalation of ghost guns appearing on Baltimore streets and in the hands of minors, the mayor’s office said. Baltimore partnered with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and Sanford Heisler Sharp to bring the lawsuit.

The city’s case against Hanover Armory will continue and is currently scheduled for trial in October.