Excerpt:
Prosecutors highlighted “about $10,000 — $8,000 in U.S. dollars and then $2,000 in foreign currency that was found on his person,” CNN correspondent Danny Freeman said following the court hearing.
“Also they said that he had a Faraday bag,” which blocks cell signals, a move that prosecutors alleged marked “an indication of criminal sophistication and reason they should hold him on bail,” Freeman continued.
After prosecutors made the claims, Mangione said he would like to “correct two things.”
“I don’t know where any of that money came from — I’m not sure if it was planted. And also, that bag was waterproof, so I don’t know about criminal sophistication,” the suspect said in a statement that suggested police framed him.
It makes perfect sense for this to be a frame up because one of the incriminating items was a “Recently Used Ghost Gun”, a cheaply made 3D Printed gun that leaves no special marking on the bullet and can only really be used once. They are made to be used for crimes and discarded quickly, which is why some congressmen want to see restrictions on 3D Printers.
This raises an interesting question: How the fuck is he dumb enough not to dispose of the gun that was meant to be disposed? And has two answers: He’s just that fucking stupid or The evidence was planted
You could, if you were so inclined, make a rather nice 3D printed gun. Just saying.
No firearm on Earth actually does this, not even commercially made ones. The fantasy of “microstamping” has been just that, purest fantasy, ever since it was dreamed up by (I believe) some California legislators that were equally out of touch with reality. Forensic ballistic analysis does not work that way. In almost all cases, you cannot identify a gun by a recovered bullet or casing. You can, however, potentially match a casing or recovered bullet to a gun you already have in your possession.
This is patently false, unless you suck at printing and assembling your gun.
Tons of people design and print their own guns purely as a hobby. Furthermore, before the advent of 3D printers plenty of people manufactured their own firearms without the aid of any such device – again, largely as a hobby or to have complete control over the manufacturing tolerances of their gun. Making highly tuned 1911 “race guns” for competition shooting is and was very popular, for instance.
“Ghost gun” is just a pejorative term invented to make “homemade firearm” sound more spooky. You have taken propaganda hook, line, and sinker. The only difference between a “ghost gun” and a regular gun is whether it was serialized by a licensed manufacturer. While there are a few extremely niche homemade guns that could be categorized as “disposable,” the vast majority are Glock- or AR-pattern firearms that use a full complement of factory parts.
It costs as much or more to finish your typical “ghost gun” than it does to build or buy a serialized firearm. They will also typically leave all the marks you’d usually expect on bullets and casings, because all the same parts touch the same way they do in a serialized firearm.
You don’t seem very knowledgeable about the gun used in this situation.
All articles about what was found on him kept mentioning a metal slide and barrel along with a regular Glock mag, that heavily implies it was just a 3d printed Glock lower so basically just a regular Glock. The only way it would “leave no special markings on the bullet” would be if he used a gun with a plastic barrel, but I believe the FBI said shortly after the og liberator was released that it leaves enough plastic behind to be traceable.
In practice the gun is a regular Glock, that would be easily identified as not being legal in a few states. My guess would be that they weren’t getting rid of it because it’s still a perfectly serviceable firearm and he might have been planning on using it again or at least it probably seemed like a good thing to have when he was in fight or flight mode.
If you really want to get rid of evidence the metal barrel is going to be the most important thing to get rid of as far as being linked to a shooting. Ghost gun is just bad in general unless you are in one of the states that says it’s fine
I’m also sceptical of the ghost gun thing. AFAIK the only real ghost gun is an FGC9 which is about the size of a submachine gun and is definitely not what is seen in the video.
You’re unaware of the existence of 3d printed Glock lowers? That’s all it was
What’s the point in those beyond a tech demo though? Don’t they use so much of the donor gun that it’s effectively no different to just scrubbing the serial number but with a lot more effort?
The point is you can theoretically assemble a functional Glock this way without leaving a paper trail. The lower (or frame, really) is the serial numbered part that carries all the Federal paperwork. You can mail order the rest of the parts without raising any eyebrows, do a bunch of assembly and fitting and tuning and fettling, and then wind up with a functional gun.
I will point out that this is actually legal to do on a Federal basis, although some states have since individually passed laws against it.
But just wait until I tell you that any moron can walk into a Bass Pro shops and buy a perfectly functional and lethal black powder cap-and-ball revolver in pretty much any state in the union with no paperwork. According to the ATF, they are not interested in classifying arms that do not used “fixed cartridge ammunition” a firearms at all (although most states do).
The difference is (in most jurisdictions), it’s legal to do the first and illegal to do the second. If you are already a criminal, there’s only one part of a gun that’s a gun, and that’s the only part that’s illegal to sell you.
Wait. Does that mean sellers are not obliged to track sales of uppers and barrels and the rest? Yeah I can see why lawmakers are pissed off now lol.
Here’s your AK, bro.
And the 3d printing part is not relevant.
There is no national firearm registry and manufacturers are not required to track parts or kits. So you can “build your own” weapon without traceable serial numbers - regardless of whether you use 3d printing to create one or more parts
A parts kit always needs a lower. The lower is the part that is considered the gun legally and is registered and serialized normally. 3D printing the lower is what makes it relevant
Yup, the US only regulates “guns.” Which is the part of the assembled firearm that has the serial number. Everything else is a “gun part,” which for the most part, are not controlled.
So if you can acquire/manufacture the “gun” you can buy the rest of the “gun parts” on eBay.