Want to Make a Ghost Gun? YouTube Videos Still Show You How

Part of America’s struggle to tackle what many have called the epidemic of gun violence is addressing the fact that anyone can go online and research how to build a ghost gun.

Three years ago, YouTube vowed to remove all videos about how to make firearms on the grounds that they violate their guidelines. But many of these videos are still online, NBC News reports.

Law enforcement officials have linked dozens of YouTube videos depicting ghost gun assembly videos to countless shootings in recent years, noting that these videos have millions of views. 

NBC sent Google, YouTube’s parent company, links to six videos — which collectively accounted for more than 1.2 million hits — seeking comment on how it enforces its firearms policy.

YouTube removed the videos within hours, but dozens of similar videos still remain, NBC says.

Some of the videos were posted as far back as 2013, with many ranging from 1,000 views to more than half a million. 

YouTube said in a statement that, with more than 500 hours of content being uploaded to the site every minute, it largely relies on “advanced machine learning” and reports from users to flag videos that may violate its policies. Employees then review the videos to determine whether they should be removed.

In 2019, The Trace, a nonprofit news organization that focuses on gun violence, found that YouTube hosted videos about how to build 3D-printed guns that violated its policies. NBC News details that The Trace said that it flagged several videos through YouTube’s mechanism for reporting policy violations but that the company removed the offending videos only after The Trace contacted it directly.

“It’s surprising to me that YouTube wouldn’t be looking at this more closely and enforcing a rule that they themselves set,” said Jim Burch, the president of the National Police Foundation, a nonpartisan law enforcement think tank, as quoted by NBC News.

“They can’t possibly be asleep at the wheel on this,” he added.

Law enforcement agencies recovered nearly 24,000 ghost guns in the last five years, according to a recent Justice Department news release. In 2016, they seized 1,750; last year that number had skyrocketed upward of 8,700.

Additional Reading: ‘Ghost Guns’ Fuel Nationwide Rise in Violence

The conversation surrounding YouTube’s proliferation of ghost gun content has come to the surface recently, as New Jersey police just arrested a man they’ve suspected has trafficked “ghost guns” and their worst fears were confirmed. 

Authorities arrested William R. Pillus, a 23-year-old from Lincoln Park, and charged him with five firearm offenses for bringing ghost gun kits across the Delaware River after he bought them at a Pennsylvania gun show in September, according to a statement from acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew Bruck noted by North Jersey.com.

According to North Jersey.com, Police seized from Pillus’ car and home one un-serialized AR-15 style semiautomatic rifle; 13 9mm handgun kits containing slides, barrels and springs; two 30-round high capacity AR-15 magazines; two 35 round magazines; more than a dozen 12-round magazines; 400 rounds of 9mm ammunition; 13 “P80” Polymer 80 boxes containing 9mm grip and trigger housing kits (subcompact firearms frames), none of which were imprinted with a serial number; three AR-15 frames; handwritten handgun assembly instructions; and various firearm manufacturing tools.

“Our message to gun traffickers is clear — if you bring illegal firearms into our state, we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,” Bruck said in the statement. “We are committed to shutting down the pipeline of illegal firearms into New Jersey, especially the untraceable ‘ghost guns’ that are quickly becoming a favorite of criminals.”

When talking with Pillus, he admitted that the source of his gun-building knowledge was YouTube. 

See Also: ‘Ghost Guns’ Increase Threat of Right-Wing Violence: Researcher