Nicholas Anthony Zito accused of using 3D printer to manufacture ghost guns in Cortlandt, N.Y. home
CORTLANDT, N.Y. -- Police found a high-tech threat in an upscale suburban condo complex.
Investigators allege a 22-year-old man used a 3D printer to manufacturer ghost guns at his Westchester County home.
Law enforcement considers these untraceable weapons a growing threat.
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It was an early morning raid at a complex where condos sell for more than $700,000. Inside a unit on Langloth Drive in the town of Cortlandt, a multi-agency police task force found a high-tech 3D printer, three completed ghost guns, including one classified as an assault rifle, four ghost gun frames, and multiple high-capacity ammo-feeding devices.
Nicholas Anthony Zito, 22, is now facing felony firearms charges.
Former FBI agent Kenneth Gray said ghost gun cases involving young adults are not uncommon.
"A young, tech-savvy person that gets the 3D printer, downloads the files, and decides to put this thing together to see if they can do so," Gray said.
Gray, a professor at the University of New Haven, said ghost guns can be assembled from kits or made using a 3D printer. The weapons are a growing concern. Most don't have serial numbers and cannot be traced.
They're increasingly used in crimes, including during a scooter shooting rampage in Queens and Brooklyn last July.
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Figures from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives show the number of ghost guns recovered more than doubled from 2020 to 2021.
Gray said when you consider there are more than 400 million guns owned by Americans, the number of ghost guns, "is still very small, but it is, nonetheless, an ever-increasing device that is being found at crime scenes."
A federal effort to require serial numbers on ghost guns made from kits is tied up in court. Second Amendment advocates say it threatens a long history of private gunsmithing in the U.S.
