Plastic guns and ghost guns- Your guide from a Fairfax criminal lawyer on their legal limits

Plastic guns (PGs) and ghost guns are important areas of the law for you to know about. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I believe in robust protections for Second Amendment / weapons / firearm / handgun rights, not only because doing otherwise expands our already overgrown and overly oppressive criminal “justice” system, but also because putting teeth into the Constitution’s Second Amendment also helps preserve and possibly even expand our civil liberties protections under the remaining amendments of the Bill of Rights. I discuss both PGs and ghost guns in this article to underline but two of the limits to gun ownership, whether or not that seems to clash with the Second Amendment’s language.

What are plastic guns and what is the Virginia criminal penalty for possessing them?

Particularly with 3-D printing technology, less easily detectable weapons are all the easier to produce and obtain. The Virginia Code attempts to address this by providing that: “It shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture, import, sell, transfer or possess any plastic firearm. As used in this section, ‘plastic firearm’ means any firearm, including machine guns and sawed-off shotguns as defined in this chapter, containing less than 3.7 ounces of electromagnetically detectable metal in the barrel, slide, cylinder, frame or receiver of which, when subjected to inspection by X-ray machines commonly used at airports, does not generate an image that accurately depicts its shape. A violation of this section shall be punishable as a Class 5 felony.” Virginia Code § 18.2-308.5 . In other words, a plastic gun in Virginia does not need to be made of plastic, but instead both contains less than 3.7 ounces of detectable metal that does not generate an accurate image with an x-ray machine. If you do not intentionally want such a plastic gun, make sure you are purchasing your firearms from a reputable and reliable dealer. If you make your purchase otherwise — for instance from a person who is not in the business of selling weapons, or at a gun show where you do not know anything about the seller — take appropriate precautions. 

What are ghost guns, and what are the federal limits on them?

A “ghost gun” is a loaded description that really references guns that are not traceable through a serial number. Therefore, I will call them “serial-free guns”. Because this has been in the news recently with the Supreme Court, I want to tell you that the federal trial judge who barred the federal regulation of serial-free guns when applied to home gun assembly kits, reached that ruling by finding an absence of statutory authority for the regulation, leaving any Constitutional arguments on the matter for another day. The Supreme Court recently stayed that regulation invalidation by a 5-4 vote while the matter proceeds on appeal on a fast track. When I did not find the trial judge’s opinion that stays this serial-free gun regulation, I obtained and uploaded it here for anyone to see.

What should I do if accused of or prosecuted for an alleged Virginia weapon crime?

Do not defend yourself against a Virginia weapon crime, whether the allegation be about a plastic gun or otherwise. Many defenses exist, including — depending on the circumstances — of whether a discovered handgun was in a closed container, whether the item fits the Virginia Code’s definition of a prohibited concealed weapon, and whether a sufficient nexus exists between a discovered firearm and any alleged illegal drugs. Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan Katz has successfully defended hundreds of people charged with weapons offenses. Call 703-383-1100 for your free initial in-person confidential meeting with Jon Katz about your court-pending case.