Mayor Adams, NYPD top brass call on ATF to revoke Polymer80's license for manufacturing ghost guns

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Mayor, NYPD call on feds to revoke license of ghost gun manufacture

The NYPD reports 1,693 gun arrests in New York City so far this year, but they say only 20% of those arrested with a firearm are held in custody. Eyewitness News reporter Darla Mil

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Mayor Eric Adams joined NYPD top brass at a press conference to demand the federal government revoke the business license of a prominent gun manufacturer they blame for the increase of ghost guns in New York City.

"See these weapons here," Mayor Eric Adams said at One Police Plaza on Wednesday. "Traditionally we didn't see these on our streets. This is our real problem here."

On the street, its called the "polymer pipeline" as in the company Polymer80 that sells untraceable, ready to assemble gun parts online. Their website says they don't ship to New York City, but according to the NYPD and ATF, it's the largest manufacturer of ghost guns taken off city streets.

"Ninety percent of the guns you see up on this table and that we seize that are ghost guns in the NYPD, are Polymer80 ghost guns," Inspector Courtney Nilan of the NYPD's Major Intelligence Unit said.

Eric Adams said on Tuesday that he was "pissed off" with the over-proliferation of ghost guns entering the city and is calling on the ATF to remove Polymer80's federal firearm license.

"We want to revoke it, they're bad practices, their questionable behavior," Adams said. "We need to send a clear and loud message to the entire country."

NYPD statistics show a 38% drop in homicides and a 29.1% decrease in shooting incidents this April compared to last year.

However, there was an increase of 64.6% in arrests for illegal firearms from last year.

So far this year officers have recovered 153 ghost guns. In 2021 the NYPD seized 275 ghost guns in total.

Investigators say Polymer80 pistol kits sell for $350 to $400 and are resold on the streets for $1000 to $1500.

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"This is not a toy," Adams said about one of the large guns on display at the press conference. "It's shipped as if it's a toy. Do you know how much firepower this is in the wrong hands? Do you know what this can do to a school? Do you know what this can do to a house of worship?"

Adams says the best course of action is to tackle the problem head-on by eliminating the suppliers of ghost guns.

The next step according to the mayor is to restructure the bail system so that those arrested for possession of an illegal firearm aren't re-released.

The NYPD reports 1,693 gun arrests in New York City so far this year, but they say only 20% of those arrested with a firearm are held in custody.

Additionally, about one in five of those arrested on weapons charges had previous gun arrests and were released.

NYPD officials will meet with members of the ATF to present their evidence on the ghost gun manufacture.

Eyewitness News reached out to Polymer80 for comment and have not heard back yet from the company.

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