ghost gun
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.31 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A gun without serial numbers that cannot be easily tracked, especially a homemade gun built with nonregistered, partially finished, or 3D printed components.
Example Sentences
- "The two companies warrant attention because their marketing focuses “on the anonymous, untraceable nature of the guns they allow to be made — and the many examples of ghost guns used in crimes,” Adam Skaggs, chief counsel at the center, said in an email."
- "In New York, state lawmakers announced legislation on Monday that would require makers of ghost guns to have a gunsmith license and register the firearms."
- "The suspects in New Jersey are accused of trying to sell several homemade AR-15 assault-style rifles that are known as ghost guns because they cannot be tracked."
Etymology
From ghost + gun. Derived from the fact that these firearms are unserialized, difficult to trace, and often remain invisible to the tracking and regulation covering traditionally manufactured firearms. First use appears c. 2001 in Sunday People.