Trafficked with Mariana Van Zeller (2020) s03e03 Episode Script
Ghost Guns
1
♪
It hurts to be told when
you're not very old ♪
MARIANA: Americans and
guns go hand in hand.
An outlaw's son ♪
MARIANA: They're part of the
country's founding mythology,
and for some citizens, they go
to the core of what it means
to be an American.
COWBOY: We're surrounded
by a sea of wonderful
products to buy.
The son of a gun ♪
MARIANA: Today, the US has
nearly 400 million firearms
in circulation.
It's the only country
in the world with more
guns than people.
All of this is
constitutionally protected
and 100% legal.
But a new kind of weapons
technology is testing the
limits of America's gun laws.
They're called ghost guns.
Unlicensed, untraceable,
and easy to assemble at home.
CODY: Almost everything
you see here is just
printed on a 3D printer.
MARIANA: Do they ask
you any questions?
MARIANA: I want to know who's
making them, who's buying them.
Have you sold to criminals?
MARIANA: And how these weapons
are getting into the hands of
America's most violent gangs.
CODY: This is a world
you will have to live in.
There's no going back.
(gunshots)
(theme music plays)
RYAN: We're searching for
ammunition and firearms.
No one inside of this house
has any guns registered to
them, but there's likely
several guns inside of here.
We don't necessarily
anticipate any violence,
but they are meth users and the
dope game is unpredictable.
MARIANA: Welcome to the
frontlines of the fight
against ghost guns.
Detective Ryan Swetavage is a
member of the Alameda County
Sheriff's Office
Gang Suppression Unit.
Today, the team is executing a
search warrant on the home of
a convicted felon; a home
they suspect is being used to
manufacture ghost guns.
RYAN: So when we pull up
in front of the house,
try to stay behind a vehicle,
so you're a little bit
more protected.
MARIANA: Okay.
In case there are shots fired?
RYAN: Correct.
Okay. Here we go.
♪
(knocking)
This is the Alameda
County Sheriff's Office!
Come to the front door
with nothing in your hands!
Come on down the stairs.
MARIANA: Oh,
somebody just came out.
MAN: Oh, my God.
MARIANA: Over the next couple
hours, the team locates an
impressive weapons cache.
That was inside?
RYAN: Yeah.
MARIANA: That long one too?
RYAN: Yeah.
So, she's not supposed to have
firearms, but this is actually
from a company.
And then they drilled some
holes in it, milled it out,
and then completed the gun.
There's no serial
number on that plate.
MARIANA: So it's a
ghost gun, as well?
RYAN: Correct, yeah.
MARIANA: This is
a critical point.
Ghost guns are weapons
without serial numbers,
untraceable guns, which
pose an enormous challenge
for cops investigating
gun violence.
That's crazy.
Did you think you were
going to find so many guns?
RYAN: I didn't think we're
going to find this many.
I mean, right here, just what
we found so far, you know,
about 30% of the guns
here are ghosN guns.
MARIANA: This is not
an isolated incident.
Illegal ghost gun recoveries
are accelerating and there's
a disturbing reason why.
REPORTER (over TV): The
13-year-old was allegedly
selling ghost guns.
POLICE (over TV): You can
manufacture your own gun.
REPORTER (over TV):
And build something
that could kill people.
MARIANA: Right now, there are
more than 80 companies
selling ghost guns.
MAN: Straight to your door.
MARIANA: Unlike traditional
firearms, they can be
purchased without any
IDs or background checks.
Buyers get what's
called an 80% build kit.
They simply drill a
few holes and assemble.
It's like Ikea
for lethal weapons.
WOMAN: This is how I've built
mine, how will you build yours?
RYAN: This is basically
an AR-15 rifle that's been
converted to fire
handgun ammunition,
nine-millimeter ammunition.
In this case, we executed a
search warrant on someone who
was manufacturing these guns
and likely selling them to
gang members.
MARIANA: But you found somebody
making their own AR-15s
to sell to gang members on the
streets of the United States?
RYAN: Correct, yeah.
If he's going to put guns in
the hands of gang members,
he absolutely should not
have that anything.
MARIANA: And it's ghost gun
technology like this that's
making it possible.
RYAN: This actual
device is a mill.
It's an electronic mill.
So you plug that in to a
laptop or any sort of computer
and with a software
that you can download,
you can finish firearms.
MARIANA: The operation they
busted earlier tonight was
using hand drills and
dremels to make ghost guns.
RYAN: These are just
regular hand tools.
MARIANA: Somewhat primitive
compared to this machine,
which allows someone
to professionally mill
metal gun parts at home.
So do you mind if I look for,
I'm trying to figure out
what company makes this.
RYAN: No.
Go for it.
MARIANA: Oh, wow.
A well-regulated militia being
necessary to the security of a
free state, to
keep and bear arms.
It's the Bill of Rights
that's written here.
Had you seen this?
RYAN: No, I didn't see that.
MARIANA: A little more
poking around reveals that the
machine is manufactured by
"Defense Distributed,"
a company based 1,500
miles away in Austin, Texas.
CODY: It's like a
tradition of ours to put
in little Easter eggs.
So we just managed to fit the
entire Bill of Rights on this
LED board here.
MARIANA: Really,
all of it is here?
CODY: Uh-hmm.
You would never know that, you
know, but that's just a little
gift of love from us to you.
MARIANA: This looks like
a Star Wars gun almost. Right?
CODY: This is, careful where
you point that, but this is
J Stark's FGC.
MARIANA: Oh,
this is the, sorry.
CODY: Here's your barrel. Yeah.
This is J Stark's FGC-9.
This is the Mark II.
MARIANA: Oh.
CODY: This is (bleep) Gun
Control, nine millimeter.
And almost everything you see
here is actually just printed
on a 3D printer.
Anyone in the world should be
able to make it if they have
the right equipment.
MARIANA: A decade ago,
3D-printed guns like this
were the stuff of
science fiction.
CODY: When I see this gun, I
see the fulfillment of the
things that I was doing.
MARIANA: So
you're proud of it.
CODY: I enjoy it.
I love it. Yeah.
It's, I look at it
more like a child.
MARIANA: The man I'm speaking
with didn't invent this
particular weapon, but he gave
birth to the technology
that made it possible.
His name is
REPORTER (over TV):
Cody Wilson.
REPORTER 2 (over TV):
Cody Wilson.
REPORTER 3 (over TV):
Cody Wilson.
MARIANA: He's the director
of Defense Distributed,
one of the country's leading
ghost gun manufacturers.
CODY: If you can run a computer,
you can run a ghost gun.
MARIANA: Some say Cody
is a gun rights activist.
CODY: As long as you have the
right to keep and bear arms,
you have the
right to make them.
MARIANA: Others
call him an anarchist.
REPORTER (over TV): This is
about weapons of war being made
in people's living rooms.
CODY: There would be nothing
illegal about even felons or
other people getting it.
MARIANA: Wired magazine
once labeled him one of
"the 15 most dangerous
people in the world."
RICHARD: The new wave of
American gun violence.
MARIANA: That's because Cody
Wilson was the first person to
build a fully functional,
3D-printed firearm.
CODY: I didn't know
how to print a gun.
I didn't know how
to use a 3D printer.
MARIANA: Uh-hmm.
CODY: But I knew
what I wanted to do.
I wanted to make
a Wiki Weapon.
I wanted to,
WikiLeaks for guns.
MARIANA: Three-dimensional
printers use raw materials
like metal or plastic,
depositing them
layer after layer
until they create a
three-dimensional object.
Today's 3D printers can
make just about anything,
from medical prosthetics and
children's toys, to furniture
and, of course, firearms.
Cody called his very first
creation "The Liberator."
So this was one of
the first, what?
Five guns that you printed?
CODY: I would say it's one of
the first three Liberators.
MARIANA: Oh, the
first three. Wow.
CODY: Ever printed
MARIANA: And did you,
did you actually go out
and shoot this one?
CODY: Yeah. You can, in fact,
you can still see the dust
and the grime and the uh
MARIANA: You can. Yeah.
CODY: The explosive
pNwder burns.
MARIANA: Uh-hmm.
CODY: And this
thing has been fired.
MARIANA: In fact, in May of
2013, Cody posted a video of
himself successfully
test-firing the Liberator,
then uploaded the gun's
design onto the web,
making it accessible
to anyone online,
including criminals
and terrorists.
It was downloaded
nearly 100,000 times.
Were you surprised?
CODY: Yeah.
I was like, "Wow. Okay."
I'm, I'm thrown into this
world just like you are now.
We live in a world of 3D guns.
MARIANA: It's a world the U.S.
Government wasn't happy about,
so they accused Cody of
illegally trafficking
weapons overseas.
CODY: The fun thing of
the law is there's a line.
Before that line, this
is a piece of metal.
It might have a funny
shape, but it means nothing.
After this line, the ATF
says this is a firearm.
MARIANA: Uh-hmm. What do
you think of that line?
CODY: If the ATF
wants to redraw the line.
MARIANA: Uh-hmm.
CODY: We'll
redraw the line too.
MARIANA: Cody sued
the U.S. Government and
they ultimately backed down.
So your defense
was, it's the right
CODY: Yeah.
MARIANA: Of free speech to be
able to put out this code that
makes these guns.
CODY: Uh-hmm.
Yeah, exactly.
It's a game.
Why can't I play this game?
MARIANA: Right now, the
rules of the game say that
any American company
selling guns needs
a Federal Firearms
License or FFL.
Ghost gun companies don't.
Because they argue,
they're not selling guns,
they're selling parts.
Online, I can buy all
these parts from you?
Everything?
CODY: Everything you see.
MARIANA: And then I
can put it together?
It all comes down
to a surprisingly
complicated question.
What exactly is a gun?
Every firearm is made
up of multiple parts.
Some parts are metal,
others are plastic.
But the U.S. Government
doesn't regulate
pieces of plastic and metal.
CODY: Who, who can determine,
and by what means,
when a piece of metal is a gun,
is more like a gun
than not a gun, right?
So a bureaucrat looks at a gun
and says, this is when this
becomes a gun.
This is when
this becomes a gun.
And these things have no
real relation to each other.
MARIANA: For the moment,
federal law has decided that
the firearm frame, or lower
receiver, is in fact what
makes a gun.
And once a series of holes
are drilled into the frame,
it becomes a working firearm
and worthy of regulation.
That's how ghost gun companies
get away with selling
incomplete, 80% kits because
there's still some at-home
assembly required.
We've spoken to a lot
of police departments
around the country and
CODY: Yeah.
MARIANA: We know that there
are a lot more of ghost guns.
CODY: Yeah.
MARIANA: Showing
up in crime scenes.
REPORTER (over TV): The
epidemic of gun violence
gripping America.
REPORTER (over TV):
He built this gun.
REPORTER (over TV): Last year,
more than 20,000 people were
killed by a firearm in
the United States.
MARIANA: How do
you feel about that?
CODY: I'm happy that these
police are, you know, I don't
know what, finding work.
Be a detective.
Do your job.
All right?
How is this my problem?
♪
CODY: This is how you
buy, like, a whole Glock.
But what we do ahead of time
is, you know, we chop it up.
We make sure that the
regulated part is no longer
in the package.
MARIANA: So, the lower
receiver isn't here.
CODY: You, you know, you've got
one, your one step removed.
Your lower is on a USB.
MARIANA: Wow.
CODY: Think about it.
MARIANA: All right.
That, this is so crazy to me.
So, you buy this, you've
got all the parts you need.
CODY: Yeah.
MARIANA: Except for the lower
receiver which, usually,
it's the registered part.
CODY: Yeah, yeah.
MARIANA: But guess what?
CODY: Yeah.
MARIANA: You have a
USB that will teach
you how to make a gun.
I'm trying to understand how
ghost guns are making their
way into the
hands of criminals.
And there's no better person
to ask than Cody Wilson.
The man who gave birth to
the ghost gun industry.
So, if the federal government,
if the authorities
were to open this.
CODY: Yeah.
MARIANA: They, everything
is legal here right now.
CODY: I don't see a gun in here.
I don't see a gun, sorry.
Nothing in here
looks regulated to me.
MARIANA: So it's a way of
trying to skirt the law?
CODY: I think it's, you know,
more, it's more grand than
that, right?
MARIANA: Uh-hmm.
CODY: It's a way of
making the law pointless.
This changes the balance of
power between the state and
between the individual.
Cheap available guns.
Downloadable guns.
3D-printed guns.
Guns with no serial numbers.
This is a world you
will have to live in.
You know, like,
there's no going back.
MARIANA: Cody Wilson calls
himself a crypto-anarchist.
His ideological inspiration
is WikiLeaks founder and
free speech radical,
Julian Assange.
Of course, Cody's focus
isn't speech, it's guns.
He advocates for immunity
from any government oversight.
But would a world without
meaningful gun laws
increase freedom or
just fuel anarchy?
How do you feel about the fact
that ghost guns are being used
to commit crimes, to
kill innocent people?
CODY: Guns kill people.
You know, this is what
makes them effective,
politically interesting.
MARIANA: Right. But there's
a reason why they're using
ghost guns, right?
Because they are untraceable,
because they're easy,
they're easy.
CODY: Oh, look, I agree.
MARIANA: You can make, you
still haven't answered my
question though.
How do you feel?
CODY: Excited, empowered.
Right? Capable of
delivering more damage.
I think I'll be a bigger
problem to the government and
I think, you know, that's what
I've always been trying to be.
MARIANA: I think a lot
of people would find that
incredibly dangerous,
as I'm sure you know.
CODY: Yeah, well,
I'm an American.
You know?
Move to Finland.
♪
It hurts to be told ♪
When you're not very old ♪
That you're an outlaw's son ♪
And that you're
the son of a gun ♪
MARIANA: It's already
incredibly easy to get a gun
in the U.S.
So I want to understand who's
buying ghost guns and why.
♪
Wow, that's a lot
of weapons, huh?
MARIANA: Can I hold it?
MARIANA: It's, oh wow.
So it's all, it's 3D-printed,
what part of it's, it's the
lower receiver?
MARIANA: Do you have a
machine, the 3D printer?
MARIANA: And then the rest is
just parts that you bought.
MARIANA: My contact tells
me to call him "Dutch."
He says he built this AR-15
assault rifle from an
80% parts kit he ordered online,
just like the kits
Cody Wilson sells.
(gunshots)
Do they ask you any questions
when you're ordering this
stuff online?
MARIANA: That's it?
DUTCH: Yup.
MARIANA: How many
guns do you own?
MARIANA: And how many
of them are ghost guns?
MARIANA: That's because Dutch
can't buy a traditional firearm.
Why can't you buy it?
MARIANA: Dutch and his
friends aren't criminals,
they're kids,
teenagers actually.
But because IDs aren't
required to order ghost guns,
the companies don't know, or
don't care, if they're helping
underage customers
acquire an arsenal like this.
MARIANA: Dutch is right.
I've been reporting on black
markets for more than 15 years
and guns are a lucrative
commodity to the
criminal underworld.
Every day they're bought,
sold, and smuggled throughout
the United States
and around the world.
Now that ghost guns can
be ordered online and
3D-printed at home,
I suspect someone, somewhere
is taking advantage of this.
So it's almost 9:00 PM.
We're heading to meet
one of our contacts.
He's an American, lives
here in LA, but is part
of a Mexican cartel.
His group has been dealing more
and more in, in ghost guns.
Apparently, they're receiving
some sort of shipment tonight.
So he's allowed us to
come and talk to him and
possibly film part
of his operation.
MARIANA: So all of the parts
in this gun were ordered from
online websites,
completely legal?
MARIANA: I've seen a lot of
things in my career,
but this is a first.
Watching two gang members
assemble an arsenal by simply
ordering the parts online,
grabbing a few tools,
and following the instructions.
So this is a
completely untraceable gun?
If you find this on the
streets, there's no way that
somebody's going to find
out where it came from?
MARIANA: Well, maybe not
everybody, but Tiny and Flaco
are members of the Surenos,
a violent Latin-American
street gang
whose stronghold is
in Southern California.
To arm their gang, they
used to have to buy guns from
private sellers or
straight up steal them,
but none of the guns I'm
looking at tonight are stolen.
How often are
you selling guns?
MARIANA: And so, now
what happens to these guns?
MARIANA: Oh, there's a
buyer on his way right now?
MARIANA: The buyer is eager
to see the merchandise,
but less than thrilled
about our presence.
♪
MARIANA: Just miles from
my home in Los Angeles,
I'm watching a ghost
gun deal go down.
MARIANA: Because these guns
don't have serial numbers and
are effectively untraceable,
the buyer pays $3,000.
That's three times what
similar guns would cost
at a legal firearms store.
(rapping in Spanish).
MARIANA: Do you worry
about what ends up
happening with these guns?
I mean
MARIANA: It's a game I'm
only beginning to understand.
The following day, Flaco
tells me to meet him 100
miles outside the city.
I find him waiting for me
in a stolen pickup truck,
with another Sureno he
calls "Problem."
But the most explosive intel
he shares is that the buyers
I saw last night are
in police custody.
Oh, my.
So they used,
they used the guns?
Basically, they shot at other
people with those guns?
MARIANA: And
they were arrested?
MARIANA: Didn't you guys
get concerned that that might
lead back to you guys?
FLACO: No.
MARIANA: And do you know,
did anyone get hurt?
I mean, if he got in trouble,
it's because he probably
either injured or
killed somebody.
MARIANA: Would you
sell him a gun again?
MARIANA: Flaco tells
me the demand for his
products are skyrocketing.
In fact, he's out here in the
middle of nowhere for a very
specific reason,
quality control.
(gunshot)
MARIANA: Flaco reminds me
that in his world, if a weapon
doesn't work as advertised,
the buyer is going to come
looking for the seller and
he's going to be pissed.
I mean, I know this is the
middle of the desert,
but there's also a lot of people
around shooting their own guns.
FLACO: Uh-hmm.
MARIANA: This is not somewhere
that makes you nervous?
MARIANA: They're right,
the canyon is crawling
with legal gun owners.
These two gangsters are
hiding in plain sight.
But they're not shooting for
fun, like Dutch and his buddies.
They're making sure these
weapons are primed for
future gang hits.
(gunshots)
MARIANA: In your guy's case,
running a business.
(gunshots)
An illegal
business in this case.
MARIANA: Getting caught isn't
something these two worry about.
They already have buyers
waiting for them in the city.
Oh! ♪
I got to make me a gun ♪
MARIANA: It's hard for me
to imagine ghost guns aren't
having an impact in
America's rising gun violence.
The industry is ripe for
exploitation, but a true
black market isn't built on
backyard operations.
You need to scale up.
Hit me, not for fun,
I got to make me a gun ♪
Clearly not for fun, I
got to make me a gun ♪
MARIANA: And I've heard rumors
that something much bigger is
taking place right here,
in the Rocky Mountains.
When I started
looking into this story.
I didn't ever imagine
that I would end up in Denver.
It's not a place that you
think of when you think of
guns or gangs.
But it might be the center of
an interstate pipeline that
proves ghosts guns
are the future of
American gun trafficking.
♪
MARIANA: So quite the
setup you have here.
And who, these guys
all work with you?
MARIANA: Denver isn't my usual
beat, so I had some colleagues
connect me with this man.
By day, he's the owner of a
retail store that sells toys,
T-shirts and custom sneakers,
but at night, he runs a
black market business
out of the back office.
As for the other men in
the room, I'm not so sure.
MARIANA: Uh-hmm.
MARIANA: A silencer kit?
MARIANA: Holy moly.
MARIANA: And this is
completely illegal.
MARIANA: How did you
come up with this idea?
MARIANA: That reason is guns.
Getting a ghost gun is easy,
but not as easy as I've
been led to believe.
California has some
of the country's most
restrictive gun laws.
There's all kinds of hardware
that ghost gun companies can't
ship into the States, but I saw
those outlawed parts in action.
(gunshots)
Colorado's laws are looser,
and I suspect criminals are
using Denver as a kind of way
station or weapons depot,
the nexus of a larger pipeline.
And who's buying
this, this from you?
Have you sold to criminals?
MARIANA: I love how you're
going, you're going in circles
and not wanting to tell me
about what the business is.
My contacts may be connected to
the pipeline I'm searching for,
but with some black
market operators,
if you push too far,
they clam up.
MARIANA: My line of work
takes trust, but here,
I'm a stranger in
a strange town.
I reach back out to my
colleagues for another way in.
Apparently, he's waiting for
us on the side of the road
somewhere here.
Yeah, he says
he's here already.
Do you guys see him?
I don't see anyone.
Oh, I think it's
him right here.
Yeah.
I think this is him.
Hi.
ABEL: Hello.
MARIANA: How are you?
ABEL: How are you?
MARIANA: So nice to
finally meet you.
ABEL: Yeah.
How you doing?
♪
MARIANA: Who are
we meeting tonight?
ABEL: We're going to go
meet a couple of my homies.
This is what they do.
He has customers that
will blow your mind.
MARIANA: Really?
His name is Abel.
Back in Miami, he was
a gang member who ran
with a violent crew.
After spending several years
in jail, Abel moved to Denver,
hoping to leave his
criminal past behind,
but his connections to the
black market remain strong.
And tonight, he's taking me
to meet a gun trafficker.
ABEL: Him and his brother,
they're Surenos.
MARIANA: Oh, he's a Sureno?
ABEL: Yeah.
MARIANA: So that's a
Mexican cartel, basically?
ABEL: Yeah, yeah.
MARIANA: That operates.
ABEL: Everywhere.
MARIANA: Heavily here
in the U.S., as well.
ABEL: Yeah.
MARIANA: Though the Surenos
have their strongest presence
in Southern California, the
gang is believed to have some
30,000 members
spread across 35 states.
Are the Surenos big
in Denver right now?
ABEL: From what I see, yeah.
MARIANA: And why is it?
Why do you think there's such
a demand for, for these guns?
ABEL: Because people do
a lot of dumb (bleep).
And nobody wants to be
held accountable for that.
MARIANA: Is that him?
ABEL: Yup. That's him.
MARIANA: Okay.
That's our guy.
It's okay to get out?
ABEL: Yeah, yeah.
Let's go.
MARIANA: Abel's contact
asked me to call him "Johnny".
JOHNNY: Yo.
MARIANA: And confirms that
he is, in fact, a Sureno.
MARIANA: Do you mind
putting the gun down?
Only because we're, it's
making me really nervous.
MARIANA: With the light and
people passing but you're not.
JOHNNY: Yeah, you're good.
MARIANA: You're okay here?
MARIANA: I don't know.
We're under an underpass
with cars passing, and
I'm getting super nervous.
JOHNNY: Yeah. For sure.
MARIANA: So this is all 3D.
JOHNNY: The plastic, yeah.
Everything.
MARIANA: This is all plastic?
MARIANA: Oh, wow.
Doesn't look plastic at all.
MARIANA: Can I hold it?
MARIANA: Wow.
So this is an AR?
MARIANA: Really, the
shotguns is what every.
MARIANA: Johnny and his
brother print these shotguns
for 200 to 300 bucks, then they
sell them for roughly a grand.
They use a 3D printer and
order the other parts via
80% build kits, just like
Dutch and his buddies.
And even though Johnny is
an ex-con who isn't legally
permitted to own firearms,
the laws around ghost guns
are so easy to outsmart,
that Johnny now prints three to
four guns every couple days.
And where do you get, like,
the, the, the drawings for
the, what to print?
Where do you think
Johnny gets them from?
From Cody Wilson's company,
Defense Distributed.
♪
MARIANA: Why do you think
these guns are so popular?
MARIANA: Do you think that
the guns you're selling
are being used to kill?
JOHNNY: Yeah.
MARIANA: These guns aren't
"ending up" in the wrong hands.
Those hands are reaching
out to Johnny and he's
eagerly supplying them.
MARIANA: You don't?
MARIANA: Why not?
MARIANA: Johnny isn't just a gun
trafficker, he's a gangster.
He was born into the Surenos.
His family has been a part
of the gang for generations.
But I'm surprised to discover
Johnny actually grew up in LA,
mere miles from where I
saw Flaco's operation.
So this is a weird question,
but we actually, I know a group
that I was filming
with last week in LA,
that coincidentally came to
Denver to buy ghost guns.
This group, they're
called the (bleep).
After talking to Johnny for
a while, I had a hunch that
maybe he knew Tiny and Flaco.
And when I ask, he tells me
not only does he know them,
he, in fact, does
business with them.
So they buy guns
from you guys?
MARIANA: Wow, that's crazy.
MARIANA: Yeah.
It's a small world.
I can't believe that.
So I guess you guys are the
people to buy guns from if
you're coming to Denver?
MARIANA: I'm genuinely shocked
by this trafficking pipeline,
one that connects
the Rocky Mountains to
Downtown Los Angeles,
arming gang members
all along the way.
Johnny says his printing
operation goes even further
than that, supplying ghost
guns to the Midwest and
even to Mexico's cartels.
What about groups, scarier
groups than gangs, even.
Like what about, have you?
MARIANA: Yeah, yeah.
Actually, I wasn't going
to ask that, but have you?
MARIANA: Wow!
JOHNNY: Yeah.
MARIANA: It's a
frightening admission.
One that dovetails perfectly
with something Cody Wilson said.
And who are your, who
are your customers?
Who's buying this stuff?
CODY: It's always hard to
characterize them, but they
skew older men, decent
technical experience,
maybe there's some military
experience, but in general,
that, that sweet spot of that
January 6th rioter, probably.
You know, someone like that.
(shouting)
MARIANA: It's clear to me
now that the entire ghost gun
industry is helping create
a violent black market,
one that may be spreading
beyond the streets.
(gunshots)
MARIANA: The number of attacks
by anti-government groups are
at the highest
they've been in decades.
DUNCAN: Go.
MARIANA: Today, there
are some 500 of them
in the United States.
With thousands of members.
DUNCAN: Set!
(gunshot)
MARIANA: The ones I've
arranged to meet tonight
belong to the Boogaloo Bois.
And what is it about
the government that
you don't agree with?
MARIANA: The Boogaloo movement
started online in 2010 as a
loose collection of extreme
voices preparing for a second
civil war, what they
nicknamed "The Boogaloo."
But by 2020, members took
their outrage offline and
onto the streets, showing up
armed and wearing bright
Hawaiian shirts at various
protests across the country.
EXPERT (over computer):
They bring guns, they
don't like the police,
and they're attracted to chaos.
MARIANA: Violence
wasn't far behind.
REPORTER (over TV): A
self-avowed Boogaloo member.
REPORTER (over TV): Fired
what's called a ghost gun.
REPORTER (over TV): Connected
to the deaths of two officers.
MAN (over TV): They
came to Oakland to kill cops.
REPORTER (over TV): A plan
to kidnap Michigan Governor
Gretchen Whitmer.
MARIANA: Is there a point that
you guys see that you'll need
to use your guns against the
government and the police?
MARIANA: Are you serious?
MARIANA: So, as an American
citizen myself, and being at
home that day, and watching
the news, and seeing people
attacking our democracy, it
was incredibly shocking and sad.
It was a really
sad day for me.
PROTESTERS: Treason!
Treason! Treason!
MARIANA: So to hear you say
that you want this to happen
again with armed people next
time is, is troubling to me.
MARIANA: And you would
join the people that were
taking it up a notch?
(police officer screaming).
MARIANA: All of this
sounds like anarchy.
It sounds like America's
criminals have discovered the
perfect weapon, one that they
can use against rival gangs,
the government, and even
the people closest to us.
♪
(gunshots)
KEN: You hear gunfire
in a rural area,
it's nothing that's new.
It's, it's part of
the environment.
But there was something about
this one that made it different.
(gunshots)
MARIANA: It was the morning
of November 14th, 2017.
What fourth grade teacher
Ken Yuers didn't know was
that by the time he heard
gunfire, the shooter had
already murdered his own
wife and two neighbors.
OPERATOR (over phone): 911.
WOMAN (over phone):
Someone's been shot.
MAN (over phone): He shot,
he shot my uncle!
MAN (over phone): Initially
we opened the door and he
started shooting at us.
MAN (Nver phone): Oh, my God.
OPERATOR (over phone):
Which way did he go?
MARIANA: And was heading
towards the elementary school.
The gunman smashed through
the school's gates and
opened fire with a
semi-automatic assault rifle.
KEN: My senses were
completely overwhelmed
with what was going down.
This is an actual attack on our
school, this guy has an AR-15.
I can't even explain it.
MAN (over phone): There's
shooting at Rancho Tehama.
There's a white
truck ramming the gate.
WOMAN (over phone):
All kinds of gunfire.
KEN: And then I heard him just
opening up on that quad area.
WOMAN (over phone): A bunch
of gunshots are going off,
people are yelling "Help!"
KEN: You're going through a
shooting, and seconds matter
and the police are minutes
away, and not even minutes,
I mean 15-20 minutes, it was
such a long time to be at the
mercy of a maniac.
MARIANA: Six-year-old
Alejandro Hernandez was
huddled inside his
kindergarten classroom
while the gunman was firing
through the walls and windows.
REPORTER (over TV): Opening fir
at seven different locations.
REPORTER (over TV):
Semi-automatic rifle in hand.
REPORTER (over TV): Fired
at least 30 rounds.
MARIANA: Once police
began chasing the shooter,
Alejandro's mother received an
urgent call from the school.
ANGELICA: First she
told me, "Sit down."
And the moment when she told
me to sit down, I, yeah,
I knew there was something,
you know, happening.
ANGELICA: I got shocked,
it was really hard.
MARIANA: I have a son as well,
the same age, and it's,
I think, the biggest worry.
ANGELICA: Yeah.
MARIANA: The most scary
thing for every mom's.
ANGELICA: Uh-hmm.
MARIANA: And father's mind.
ANGELICA: You never
know when it will happen.
MARIANA: Alejandro Hernandez
took two direct hits.
Thankfully, he survived.
But I didn't come to
Rancho Tehama to learn
more about the murders.
I came here to prove a
point about the murder weapon.
KEN: I do believe in
the Second Amendment.
But I come to find out
later he had been told back in
January of 2017,
the judge told him,
"You need to turn in
all your weapons."
MARIANA: He wasn't
allowed to own a gun?
KEN: Correct! He was not
allowed to own a gun.
MARIANA: Like the gangsters I
met, the Rancho Tehama gunman
wasn't allowed to possess a
firearm, but because gun parts
aren't regulated like guns,
he was able to order a
ghost gun online.
CODY: It's a game.
MARIANA: Uh-hmm.
CODY: Why can't I
play this game?
MARIANA: If this is in
fact a game, then we're
the ones being played.
DISPATCH: Shots fired,
multiple calls coming in.
REPORTER (over TV): A shooting
outside a Manhattan night club.
MAN: We opened the door and
he started shooting at us.
MAN: Hey. We need an
ambulance, immediately.
OPERATOR (over phone): How
many shots did you hear?
WOMAN (over phone):
Like, four or five.
MAN: No.
(crying)
CODY: What we accidentally did
was create the Second Amendment,
if it didn't exist beforehand.
If there's a right to keep and
bear arms, whatever that means,
then you've got it.
MARIANA: Sure, but so does
everyone else, and that's not
what America's founding
fathers intended.
There's a difference between
a free marketplace
and a free-for-all.
MARIANA: Ironically, it was
the gangsters I met who were
the most honest about the impact
of the ghost gun industry.
Do you think the gun
manufacturers feel threatened
at all by the fact that
these are becoming so popular?
MARIANA: I couldn't agree more.
From what I've seen, ghost
guns are like a black market
disguised as a legal one.
And that's not
something to cheer.
Unless you think guns belong
in the hands of gangsters,
underage kids,
or extremists trying to
overthrow our government.
♪
Do you wish that there
were clearer laws in place?
RYAN: Absolutely.
I, I think there's certain
people that have lost their
privilege to
possess a firearm.
POLICE OFFICER:
Search warrant!
BIDEN: And today, the United
States Department of Justice
is making it illegal.
To manufacture one of
these kits without a
serial number, illegal.
MARIANA: Though the Biden
administration is attempting
to regulate the sale of
at-home build kits,
experts fear this won't make
much difference because the
parts themselves remain
legal and available.
MARIANA: It's time for
Americans to ask themselves.
The son of a gun ♪
(gunshots)
REPORTER (over TV): A shooting
outside a Manhattan night club.
WOMAN (over phone): How many
shots did you hear?
MARIANA: Is this a
price we're willing to pay?
Captioned by
Cotter Media Group.
♪
It hurts to be told when
you're not very old ♪
MARIANA: Americans and
guns go hand in hand.
An outlaw's son ♪
MARIANA: They're part of the
country's founding mythology,
and for some citizens, they go
to the core of what it means
to be an American.
COWBOY: We're surrounded
by a sea of wonderful
products to buy.
The son of a gun ♪
MARIANA: Today, the US has
nearly 400 million firearms
in circulation.
It's the only country
in the world with more
guns than people.
All of this is
constitutionally protected
and 100% legal.
But a new kind of weapons
technology is testing the
limits of America's gun laws.
They're called ghost guns.
Unlicensed, untraceable,
and easy to assemble at home.
CODY: Almost everything
you see here is just
printed on a 3D printer.
MARIANA: Do they ask
you any questions?
MARIANA: I want to know who's
making them, who's buying them.
Have you sold to criminals?
MARIANA: And how these weapons
are getting into the hands of
America's most violent gangs.
CODY: This is a world
you will have to live in.
There's no going back.
(gunshots)
(theme music plays)
RYAN: We're searching for
ammunition and firearms.
No one inside of this house
has any guns registered to
them, but there's likely
several guns inside of here.
We don't necessarily
anticipate any violence,
but they are meth users and the
dope game is unpredictable.
MARIANA: Welcome to the
frontlines of the fight
against ghost guns.
Detective Ryan Swetavage is a
member of the Alameda County
Sheriff's Office
Gang Suppression Unit.
Today, the team is executing a
search warrant on the home of
a convicted felon; a home
they suspect is being used to
manufacture ghost guns.
RYAN: So when we pull up
in front of the house,
try to stay behind a vehicle,
so you're a little bit
more protected.
MARIANA: Okay.
In case there are shots fired?
RYAN: Correct.
Okay. Here we go.
♪
(knocking)
This is the Alameda
County Sheriff's Office!
Come to the front door
with nothing in your hands!
Come on down the stairs.
MARIANA: Oh,
somebody just came out.
MAN: Oh, my God.
MARIANA: Over the next couple
hours, the team locates an
impressive weapons cache.
That was inside?
RYAN: Yeah.
MARIANA: That long one too?
RYAN: Yeah.
So, she's not supposed to have
firearms, but this is actually
from a company.
And then they drilled some
holes in it, milled it out,
and then completed the gun.
There's no serial
number on that plate.
MARIANA: So it's a
ghost gun, as well?
RYAN: Correct, yeah.
MARIANA: This is
a critical point.
Ghost guns are weapons
without serial numbers,
untraceable guns, which
pose an enormous challenge
for cops investigating
gun violence.
That's crazy.
Did you think you were
going to find so many guns?
RYAN: I didn't think we're
going to find this many.
I mean, right here, just what
we found so far, you know,
about 30% of the guns
here are ghosN guns.
MARIANA: This is not
an isolated incident.
Illegal ghost gun recoveries
are accelerating and there's
a disturbing reason why.
REPORTER (over TV): The
13-year-old was allegedly
selling ghost guns.
POLICE (over TV): You can
manufacture your own gun.
REPORTER (over TV):
And build something
that could kill people.
MARIANA: Right now, there are
more than 80 companies
selling ghost guns.
MAN: Straight to your door.
MARIANA: Unlike traditional
firearms, they can be
purchased without any
IDs or background checks.
Buyers get what's
called an 80% build kit.
They simply drill a
few holes and assemble.
It's like Ikea
for lethal weapons.
WOMAN: This is how I've built
mine, how will you build yours?
RYAN: This is basically
an AR-15 rifle that's been
converted to fire
handgun ammunition,
nine-millimeter ammunition.
In this case, we executed a
search warrant on someone who
was manufacturing these guns
and likely selling them to
gang members.
MARIANA: But you found somebody
making their own AR-15s
to sell to gang members on the
streets of the United States?
RYAN: Correct, yeah.
If he's going to put guns in
the hands of gang members,
he absolutely should not
have that anything.
MARIANA: And it's ghost gun
technology like this that's
making it possible.
RYAN: This actual
device is a mill.
It's an electronic mill.
So you plug that in to a
laptop or any sort of computer
and with a software
that you can download,
you can finish firearms.
MARIANA: The operation they
busted earlier tonight was
using hand drills and
dremels to make ghost guns.
RYAN: These are just
regular hand tools.
MARIANA: Somewhat primitive
compared to this machine,
which allows someone
to professionally mill
metal gun parts at home.
So do you mind if I look for,
I'm trying to figure out
what company makes this.
RYAN: No.
Go for it.
MARIANA: Oh, wow.
A well-regulated militia being
necessary to the security of a
free state, to
keep and bear arms.
It's the Bill of Rights
that's written here.
Had you seen this?
RYAN: No, I didn't see that.
MARIANA: A little more
poking around reveals that the
machine is manufactured by
"Defense Distributed,"
a company based 1,500
miles away in Austin, Texas.
CODY: It's like a
tradition of ours to put
in little Easter eggs.
So we just managed to fit the
entire Bill of Rights on this
LED board here.
MARIANA: Really,
all of it is here?
CODY: Uh-hmm.
You would never know that, you
know, but that's just a little
gift of love from us to you.
MARIANA: This looks like
a Star Wars gun almost. Right?
CODY: This is, careful where
you point that, but this is
J Stark's FGC.
MARIANA: Oh,
this is the, sorry.
CODY: Here's your barrel. Yeah.
This is J Stark's FGC-9.
This is the Mark II.
MARIANA: Oh.
CODY: This is (bleep) Gun
Control, nine millimeter.
And almost everything you see
here is actually just printed
on a 3D printer.
Anyone in the world should be
able to make it if they have
the right equipment.
MARIANA: A decade ago,
3D-printed guns like this
were the stuff of
science fiction.
CODY: When I see this gun, I
see the fulfillment of the
things that I was doing.
MARIANA: So
you're proud of it.
CODY: I enjoy it.
I love it. Yeah.
It's, I look at it
more like a child.
MARIANA: The man I'm speaking
with didn't invent this
particular weapon, but he gave
birth to the technology
that made it possible.
His name is
REPORTER (over TV):
Cody Wilson.
REPORTER 2 (over TV):
Cody Wilson.
REPORTER 3 (over TV):
Cody Wilson.
MARIANA: He's the director
of Defense Distributed,
one of the country's leading
ghost gun manufacturers.
CODY: If you can run a computer,
you can run a ghost gun.
MARIANA: Some say Cody
is a gun rights activist.
CODY: As long as you have the
right to keep and bear arms,
you have the
right to make them.
MARIANA: Others
call him an anarchist.
REPORTER (over TV): This is
about weapons of war being made
in people's living rooms.
CODY: There would be nothing
illegal about even felons or
other people getting it.
MARIANA: Wired magazine
once labeled him one of
"the 15 most dangerous
people in the world."
RICHARD: The new wave of
American gun violence.
MARIANA: That's because Cody
Wilson was the first person to
build a fully functional,
3D-printed firearm.
CODY: I didn't know
how to print a gun.
I didn't know how
to use a 3D printer.
MARIANA: Uh-hmm.
CODY: But I knew
what I wanted to do.
I wanted to make
a Wiki Weapon.
I wanted to,
WikiLeaks for guns.
MARIANA: Three-dimensional
printers use raw materials
like metal or plastic,
depositing them
layer after layer
until they create a
three-dimensional object.
Today's 3D printers can
make just about anything,
from medical prosthetics and
children's toys, to furniture
and, of course, firearms.
Cody called his very first
creation "The Liberator."
So this was one of
the first, what?
Five guns that you printed?
CODY: I would say it's one of
the first three Liberators.
MARIANA: Oh, the
first three. Wow.
CODY: Ever printed
MARIANA: And did you,
did you actually go out
and shoot this one?
CODY: Yeah. You can, in fact,
you can still see the dust
and the grime and the uh
MARIANA: You can. Yeah.
CODY: The explosive
pNwder burns.
MARIANA: Uh-hmm.
CODY: And this
thing has been fired.
MARIANA: In fact, in May of
2013, Cody posted a video of
himself successfully
test-firing the Liberator,
then uploaded the gun's
design onto the web,
making it accessible
to anyone online,
including criminals
and terrorists.
It was downloaded
nearly 100,000 times.
Were you surprised?
CODY: Yeah.
I was like, "Wow. Okay."
I'm, I'm thrown into this
world just like you are now.
We live in a world of 3D guns.
MARIANA: It's a world the U.S.
Government wasn't happy about,
so they accused Cody of
illegally trafficking
weapons overseas.
CODY: The fun thing of
the law is there's a line.
Before that line, this
is a piece of metal.
It might have a funny
shape, but it means nothing.
After this line, the ATF
says this is a firearm.
MARIANA: Uh-hmm. What do
you think of that line?
CODY: If the ATF
wants to redraw the line.
MARIANA: Uh-hmm.
CODY: We'll
redraw the line too.
MARIANA: Cody sued
the U.S. Government and
they ultimately backed down.
So your defense
was, it's the right
CODY: Yeah.
MARIANA: Of free speech to be
able to put out this code that
makes these guns.
CODY: Uh-hmm.
Yeah, exactly.
It's a game.
Why can't I play this game?
MARIANA: Right now, the
rules of the game say that
any American company
selling guns needs
a Federal Firearms
License or FFL.
Ghost gun companies don't.
Because they argue,
they're not selling guns,
they're selling parts.
Online, I can buy all
these parts from you?
Everything?
CODY: Everything you see.
MARIANA: And then I
can put it together?
It all comes down
to a surprisingly
complicated question.
What exactly is a gun?
Every firearm is made
up of multiple parts.
Some parts are metal,
others are plastic.
But the U.S. Government
doesn't regulate
pieces of plastic and metal.
CODY: Who, who can determine,
and by what means,
when a piece of metal is a gun,
is more like a gun
than not a gun, right?
So a bureaucrat looks at a gun
and says, this is when this
becomes a gun.
This is when
this becomes a gun.
And these things have no
real relation to each other.
MARIANA: For the moment,
federal law has decided that
the firearm frame, or lower
receiver, is in fact what
makes a gun.
And once a series of holes
are drilled into the frame,
it becomes a working firearm
and worthy of regulation.
That's how ghost gun companies
get away with selling
incomplete, 80% kits because
there's still some at-home
assembly required.
We've spoken to a lot
of police departments
around the country and
CODY: Yeah.
MARIANA: We know that there
are a lot more of ghost guns.
CODY: Yeah.
MARIANA: Showing
up in crime scenes.
REPORTER (over TV): The
epidemic of gun violence
gripping America.
REPORTER (over TV):
He built this gun.
REPORTER (over TV): Last year,
more than 20,000 people were
killed by a firearm in
the United States.
MARIANA: How do
you feel about that?
CODY: I'm happy that these
police are, you know, I don't
know what, finding work.
Be a detective.
Do your job.
All right?
How is this my problem?
♪
CODY: This is how you
buy, like, a whole Glock.
But what we do ahead of time
is, you know, we chop it up.
We make sure that the
regulated part is no longer
in the package.
MARIANA: So, the lower
receiver isn't here.
CODY: You, you know, you've got
one, your one step removed.
Your lower is on a USB.
MARIANA: Wow.
CODY: Think about it.
MARIANA: All right.
That, this is so crazy to me.
So, you buy this, you've
got all the parts you need.
CODY: Yeah.
MARIANA: Except for the lower
receiver which, usually,
it's the registered part.
CODY: Yeah, yeah.
MARIANA: But guess what?
CODY: Yeah.
MARIANA: You have a
USB that will teach
you how to make a gun.
I'm trying to understand how
ghost guns are making their
way into the
hands of criminals.
And there's no better person
to ask than Cody Wilson.
The man who gave birth to
the ghost gun industry.
So, if the federal government,
if the authorities
were to open this.
CODY: Yeah.
MARIANA: They, everything
is legal here right now.
CODY: I don't see a gun in here.
I don't see a gun, sorry.
Nothing in here
looks regulated to me.
MARIANA: So it's a way of
trying to skirt the law?
CODY: I think it's, you know,
more, it's more grand than
that, right?
MARIANA: Uh-hmm.
CODY: It's a way of
making the law pointless.
This changes the balance of
power between the state and
between the individual.
Cheap available guns.
Downloadable guns.
3D-printed guns.
Guns with no serial numbers.
This is a world you
will have to live in.
You know, like,
there's no going back.
MARIANA: Cody Wilson calls
himself a crypto-anarchist.
His ideological inspiration
is WikiLeaks founder and
free speech radical,
Julian Assange.
Of course, Cody's focus
isn't speech, it's guns.
He advocates for immunity
from any government oversight.
But would a world without
meaningful gun laws
increase freedom or
just fuel anarchy?
How do you feel about the fact
that ghost guns are being used
to commit crimes, to
kill innocent people?
CODY: Guns kill people.
You know, this is what
makes them effective,
politically interesting.
MARIANA: Right. But there's
a reason why they're using
ghost guns, right?
Because they are untraceable,
because they're easy,
they're easy.
CODY: Oh, look, I agree.
MARIANA: You can make, you
still haven't answered my
question though.
How do you feel?
CODY: Excited, empowered.
Right? Capable of
delivering more damage.
I think I'll be a bigger
problem to the government and
I think, you know, that's what
I've always been trying to be.
MARIANA: I think a lot
of people would find that
incredibly dangerous,
as I'm sure you know.
CODY: Yeah, well,
I'm an American.
You know?
Move to Finland.
♪
It hurts to be told ♪
When you're not very old ♪
That you're an outlaw's son ♪
And that you're
the son of a gun ♪
MARIANA: It's already
incredibly easy to get a gun
in the U.S.
So I want to understand who's
buying ghost guns and why.
♪
Wow, that's a lot
of weapons, huh?
MARIANA: Can I hold it?
MARIANA: It's, oh wow.
So it's all, it's 3D-printed,
what part of it's, it's the
lower receiver?
MARIANA: Do you have a
machine, the 3D printer?
MARIANA: And then the rest is
just parts that you bought.
MARIANA: My contact tells
me to call him "Dutch."
He says he built this AR-15
assault rifle from an
80% parts kit he ordered online,
just like the kits
Cody Wilson sells.
(gunshots)
Do they ask you any questions
when you're ordering this
stuff online?
MARIANA: That's it?
DUTCH: Yup.
MARIANA: How many
guns do you own?
MARIANA: And how many
of them are ghost guns?
MARIANA: That's because Dutch
can't buy a traditional firearm.
Why can't you buy it?
MARIANA: Dutch and his
friends aren't criminals,
they're kids,
teenagers actually.
But because IDs aren't
required to order ghost guns,
the companies don't know, or
don't care, if they're helping
underage customers
acquire an arsenal like this.
MARIANA: Dutch is right.
I've been reporting on black
markets for more than 15 years
and guns are a lucrative
commodity to the
criminal underworld.
Every day they're bought,
sold, and smuggled throughout
the United States
and around the world.
Now that ghost guns can
be ordered online and
3D-printed at home,
I suspect someone, somewhere
is taking advantage of this.
So it's almost 9:00 PM.
We're heading to meet
one of our contacts.
He's an American, lives
here in LA, but is part
of a Mexican cartel.
His group has been dealing more
and more in, in ghost guns.
Apparently, they're receiving
some sort of shipment tonight.
So he's allowed us to
come and talk to him and
possibly film part
of his operation.
MARIANA: So all of the parts
in this gun were ordered from
online websites,
completely legal?
MARIANA: I've seen a lot of
things in my career,
but this is a first.
Watching two gang members
assemble an arsenal by simply
ordering the parts online,
grabbing a few tools,
and following the instructions.
So this is a
completely untraceable gun?
If you find this on the
streets, there's no way that
somebody's going to find
out where it came from?
MARIANA: Well, maybe not
everybody, but Tiny and Flaco
are members of the Surenos,
a violent Latin-American
street gang
whose stronghold is
in Southern California.
To arm their gang, they
used to have to buy guns from
private sellers or
straight up steal them,
but none of the guns I'm
looking at tonight are stolen.
How often are
you selling guns?
MARIANA: And so, now
what happens to these guns?
MARIANA: Oh, there's a
buyer on his way right now?
MARIANA: The buyer is eager
to see the merchandise,
but less than thrilled
about our presence.
♪
MARIANA: Just miles from
my home in Los Angeles,
I'm watching a ghost
gun deal go down.
MARIANA: Because these guns
don't have serial numbers and
are effectively untraceable,
the buyer pays $3,000.
That's three times what
similar guns would cost
at a legal firearms store.
(rapping in Spanish).
MARIANA: Do you worry
about what ends up
happening with these guns?
I mean
MARIANA: It's a game I'm
only beginning to understand.
The following day, Flaco
tells me to meet him 100
miles outside the city.
I find him waiting for me
in a stolen pickup truck,
with another Sureno he
calls "Problem."
But the most explosive intel
he shares is that the buyers
I saw last night are
in police custody.
Oh, my.
So they used,
they used the guns?
Basically, they shot at other
people with those guns?
MARIANA: And
they were arrested?
MARIANA: Didn't you guys
get concerned that that might
lead back to you guys?
FLACO: No.
MARIANA: And do you know,
did anyone get hurt?
I mean, if he got in trouble,
it's because he probably
either injured or
killed somebody.
MARIANA: Would you
sell him a gun again?
MARIANA: Flaco tells
me the demand for his
products are skyrocketing.
In fact, he's out here in the
middle of nowhere for a very
specific reason,
quality control.
(gunshot)
MARIANA: Flaco reminds me
that in his world, if a weapon
doesn't work as advertised,
the buyer is going to come
looking for the seller and
he's going to be pissed.
I mean, I know this is the
middle of the desert,
but there's also a lot of people
around shooting their own guns.
FLACO: Uh-hmm.
MARIANA: This is not somewhere
that makes you nervous?
MARIANA: They're right,
the canyon is crawling
with legal gun owners.
These two gangsters are
hiding in plain sight.
But they're not shooting for
fun, like Dutch and his buddies.
They're making sure these
weapons are primed for
future gang hits.
(gunshots)
MARIANA: In your guy's case,
running a business.
(gunshots)
An illegal
business in this case.
MARIANA: Getting caught isn't
something these two worry about.
They already have buyers
waiting for them in the city.
Oh! ♪
I got to make me a gun ♪
MARIANA: It's hard for me
to imagine ghost guns aren't
having an impact in
America's rising gun violence.
The industry is ripe for
exploitation, but a true
black market isn't built on
backyard operations.
You need to scale up.
Hit me, not for fun,
I got to make me a gun ♪
Clearly not for fun, I
got to make me a gun ♪
MARIANA: And I've heard rumors
that something much bigger is
taking place right here,
in the Rocky Mountains.
When I started
looking into this story.
I didn't ever imagine
that I would end up in Denver.
It's not a place that you
think of when you think of
guns or gangs.
But it might be the center of
an interstate pipeline that
proves ghosts guns
are the future of
American gun trafficking.
♪
MARIANA: So quite the
setup you have here.
And who, these guys
all work with you?
MARIANA: Denver isn't my usual
beat, so I had some colleagues
connect me with this man.
By day, he's the owner of a
retail store that sells toys,
T-shirts and custom sneakers,
but at night, he runs a
black market business
out of the back office.
As for the other men in
the room, I'm not so sure.
MARIANA: Uh-hmm.
MARIANA: A silencer kit?
MARIANA: Holy moly.
MARIANA: And this is
completely illegal.
MARIANA: How did you
come up with this idea?
MARIANA: That reason is guns.
Getting a ghost gun is easy,
but not as easy as I've
been led to believe.
California has some
of the country's most
restrictive gun laws.
There's all kinds of hardware
that ghost gun companies can't
ship into the States, but I saw
those outlawed parts in action.
(gunshots)
Colorado's laws are looser,
and I suspect criminals are
using Denver as a kind of way
station or weapons depot,
the nexus of a larger pipeline.
And who's buying
this, this from you?
Have you sold to criminals?
MARIANA: I love how you're
going, you're going in circles
and not wanting to tell me
about what the business is.
My contacts may be connected to
the pipeline I'm searching for,
but with some black
market operators,
if you push too far,
they clam up.
MARIANA: My line of work
takes trust, but here,
I'm a stranger in
a strange town.
I reach back out to my
colleagues for another way in.
Apparently, he's waiting for
us on the side of the road
somewhere here.
Yeah, he says
he's here already.
Do you guys see him?
I don't see anyone.
Oh, I think it's
him right here.
Yeah.
I think this is him.
Hi.
ABEL: Hello.
MARIANA: How are you?
ABEL: How are you?
MARIANA: So nice to
finally meet you.
ABEL: Yeah.
How you doing?
♪
MARIANA: Who are
we meeting tonight?
ABEL: We're going to go
meet a couple of my homies.
This is what they do.
He has customers that
will blow your mind.
MARIANA: Really?
His name is Abel.
Back in Miami, he was
a gang member who ran
with a violent crew.
After spending several years
in jail, Abel moved to Denver,
hoping to leave his
criminal past behind,
but his connections to the
black market remain strong.
And tonight, he's taking me
to meet a gun trafficker.
ABEL: Him and his brother,
they're Surenos.
MARIANA: Oh, he's a Sureno?
ABEL: Yeah.
MARIANA: So that's a
Mexican cartel, basically?
ABEL: Yeah, yeah.
MARIANA: That operates.
ABEL: Everywhere.
MARIANA: Heavily here
in the U.S., as well.
ABEL: Yeah.
MARIANA: Though the Surenos
have their strongest presence
in Southern California, the
gang is believed to have some
30,000 members
spread across 35 states.
Are the Surenos big
in Denver right now?
ABEL: From what I see, yeah.
MARIANA: And why is it?
Why do you think there's such
a demand for, for these guns?
ABEL: Because people do
a lot of dumb (bleep).
And nobody wants to be
held accountable for that.
MARIANA: Is that him?
ABEL: Yup. That's him.
MARIANA: Okay.
That's our guy.
It's okay to get out?
ABEL: Yeah, yeah.
Let's go.
MARIANA: Abel's contact
asked me to call him "Johnny".
JOHNNY: Yo.
MARIANA: And confirms that
he is, in fact, a Sureno.
MARIANA: Do you mind
putting the gun down?
Only because we're, it's
making me really nervous.
MARIANA: With the light and
people passing but you're not.
JOHNNY: Yeah, you're good.
MARIANA: You're okay here?
MARIANA: I don't know.
We're under an underpass
with cars passing, and
I'm getting super nervous.
JOHNNY: Yeah. For sure.
MARIANA: So this is all 3D.
JOHNNY: The plastic, yeah.
Everything.
MARIANA: This is all plastic?
MARIANA: Oh, wow.
Doesn't look plastic at all.
MARIANA: Can I hold it?
MARIANA: Wow.
So this is an AR?
MARIANA: Really, the
shotguns is what every.
MARIANA: Johnny and his
brother print these shotguns
for 200 to 300 bucks, then they
sell them for roughly a grand.
They use a 3D printer and
order the other parts via
80% build kits, just like
Dutch and his buddies.
And even though Johnny is
an ex-con who isn't legally
permitted to own firearms,
the laws around ghost guns
are so easy to outsmart,
that Johnny now prints three to
four guns every couple days.
And where do you get, like,
the, the, the drawings for
the, what to print?
Where do you think
Johnny gets them from?
From Cody Wilson's company,
Defense Distributed.
♪
MARIANA: Why do you think
these guns are so popular?
MARIANA: Do you think that
the guns you're selling
are being used to kill?
JOHNNY: Yeah.
MARIANA: These guns aren't
"ending up" in the wrong hands.
Those hands are reaching
out to Johnny and he's
eagerly supplying them.
MARIANA: You don't?
MARIANA: Why not?
MARIANA: Johnny isn't just a gun
trafficker, he's a gangster.
He was born into the Surenos.
His family has been a part
of the gang for generations.
But I'm surprised to discover
Johnny actually grew up in LA,
mere miles from where I
saw Flaco's operation.
So this is a weird question,
but we actually, I know a group
that I was filming
with last week in LA,
that coincidentally came to
Denver to buy ghost guns.
This group, they're
called the (bleep).
After talking to Johnny for
a while, I had a hunch that
maybe he knew Tiny and Flaco.
And when I ask, he tells me
not only does he know them,
he, in fact, does
business with them.
So they buy guns
from you guys?
MARIANA: Wow, that's crazy.
MARIANA: Yeah.
It's a small world.
I can't believe that.
So I guess you guys are the
people to buy guns from if
you're coming to Denver?
MARIANA: I'm genuinely shocked
by this trafficking pipeline,
one that connects
the Rocky Mountains to
Downtown Los Angeles,
arming gang members
all along the way.
Johnny says his printing
operation goes even further
than that, supplying ghost
guns to the Midwest and
even to Mexico's cartels.
What about groups, scarier
groups than gangs, even.
Like what about, have you?
MARIANA: Yeah, yeah.
Actually, I wasn't going
to ask that, but have you?
MARIANA: Wow!
JOHNNY: Yeah.
MARIANA: It's a
frightening admission.
One that dovetails perfectly
with something Cody Wilson said.
And who are your, who
are your customers?
Who's buying this stuff?
CODY: It's always hard to
characterize them, but they
skew older men, decent
technical experience,
maybe there's some military
experience, but in general,
that, that sweet spot of that
January 6th rioter, probably.
You know, someone like that.
(shouting)
MARIANA: It's clear to me
now that the entire ghost gun
industry is helping create
a violent black market,
one that may be spreading
beyond the streets.
(gunshots)
MARIANA: The number of attacks
by anti-government groups are
at the highest
they've been in decades.
DUNCAN: Go.
MARIANA: Today, there
are some 500 of them
in the United States.
With thousands of members.
DUNCAN: Set!
(gunshot)
MARIANA: The ones I've
arranged to meet tonight
belong to the Boogaloo Bois.
And what is it about
the government that
you don't agree with?
MARIANA: The Boogaloo movement
started online in 2010 as a
loose collection of extreme
voices preparing for a second
civil war, what they
nicknamed "The Boogaloo."
But by 2020, members took
their outrage offline and
onto the streets, showing up
armed and wearing bright
Hawaiian shirts at various
protests across the country.
EXPERT (over computer):
They bring guns, they
don't like the police,
and they're attracted to chaos.
MARIANA: Violence
wasn't far behind.
REPORTER (over TV): A
self-avowed Boogaloo member.
REPORTER (over TV): Fired
what's called a ghost gun.
REPORTER (over TV): Connected
to the deaths of two officers.
MAN (over TV): They
came to Oakland to kill cops.
REPORTER (over TV): A plan
to kidnap Michigan Governor
Gretchen Whitmer.
MARIANA: Is there a point that
you guys see that you'll need
to use your guns against the
government and the police?
MARIANA: Are you serious?
MARIANA: So, as an American
citizen myself, and being at
home that day, and watching
the news, and seeing people
attacking our democracy, it
was incredibly shocking and sad.
It was a really
sad day for me.
PROTESTERS: Treason!
Treason! Treason!
MARIANA: So to hear you say
that you want this to happen
again with armed people next
time is, is troubling to me.
MARIANA: And you would
join the people that were
taking it up a notch?
(police officer screaming).
MARIANA: All of this
sounds like anarchy.
It sounds like America's
criminals have discovered the
perfect weapon, one that they
can use against rival gangs,
the government, and even
the people closest to us.
♪
(gunshots)
KEN: You hear gunfire
in a rural area,
it's nothing that's new.
It's, it's part of
the environment.
But there was something about
this one that made it different.
(gunshots)
MARIANA: It was the morning
of November 14th, 2017.
What fourth grade teacher
Ken Yuers didn't know was
that by the time he heard
gunfire, the shooter had
already murdered his own
wife and two neighbors.
OPERATOR (over phone): 911.
WOMAN (over phone):
Someone's been shot.
MAN (over phone): He shot,
he shot my uncle!
MAN (over phone): Initially
we opened the door and he
started shooting at us.
MAN (Nver phone): Oh, my God.
OPERATOR (over phone):
Which way did he go?
MARIANA: And was heading
towards the elementary school.
The gunman smashed through
the school's gates and
opened fire with a
semi-automatic assault rifle.
KEN: My senses were
completely overwhelmed
with what was going down.
This is an actual attack on our
school, this guy has an AR-15.
I can't even explain it.
MAN (over phone): There's
shooting at Rancho Tehama.
There's a white
truck ramming the gate.
WOMAN (over phone):
All kinds of gunfire.
KEN: And then I heard him just
opening up on that quad area.
WOMAN (over phone): A bunch
of gunshots are going off,
people are yelling "Help!"
KEN: You're going through a
shooting, and seconds matter
and the police are minutes
away, and not even minutes,
I mean 15-20 minutes, it was
such a long time to be at the
mercy of a maniac.
MARIANA: Six-year-old
Alejandro Hernandez was
huddled inside his
kindergarten classroom
while the gunman was firing
through the walls and windows.
REPORTER (over TV): Opening fir
at seven different locations.
REPORTER (over TV):
Semi-automatic rifle in hand.
REPORTER (over TV): Fired
at least 30 rounds.
MARIANA: Once police
began chasing the shooter,
Alejandro's mother received an
urgent call from the school.
ANGELICA: First she
told me, "Sit down."
And the moment when she told
me to sit down, I, yeah,
I knew there was something,
you know, happening.
ANGELICA: I got shocked,
it was really hard.
MARIANA: I have a son as well,
the same age, and it's,
I think, the biggest worry.
ANGELICA: Yeah.
MARIANA: The most scary
thing for every mom's.
ANGELICA: Uh-hmm.
MARIANA: And father's mind.
ANGELICA: You never
know when it will happen.
MARIANA: Alejandro Hernandez
took two direct hits.
Thankfully, he survived.
But I didn't come to
Rancho Tehama to learn
more about the murders.
I came here to prove a
point about the murder weapon.
KEN: I do believe in
the Second Amendment.
But I come to find out
later he had been told back in
January of 2017,
the judge told him,
"You need to turn in
all your weapons."
MARIANA: He wasn't
allowed to own a gun?
KEN: Correct! He was not
allowed to own a gun.
MARIANA: Like the gangsters I
met, the Rancho Tehama gunman
wasn't allowed to possess a
firearm, but because gun parts
aren't regulated like guns,
he was able to order a
ghost gun online.
CODY: It's a game.
MARIANA: Uh-hmm.
CODY: Why can't I
play this game?
MARIANA: If this is in
fact a game, then we're
the ones being played.
DISPATCH: Shots fired,
multiple calls coming in.
REPORTER (over TV): A shooting
outside a Manhattan night club.
MAN: We opened the door and
he started shooting at us.
MAN: Hey. We need an
ambulance, immediately.
OPERATOR (over phone): How
many shots did you hear?
WOMAN (over phone):
Like, four or five.
MAN: No.
(crying)
CODY: What we accidentally did
was create the Second Amendment,
if it didn't exist beforehand.
If there's a right to keep and
bear arms, whatever that means,
then you've got it.
MARIANA: Sure, but so does
everyone else, and that's not
what America's founding
fathers intended.
There's a difference between
a free marketplace
and a free-for-all.
MARIANA: Ironically, it was
the gangsters I met who were
the most honest about the impact
of the ghost gun industry.
Do you think the gun
manufacturers feel threatened
at all by the fact that
these are becoming so popular?
MARIANA: I couldn't agree more.
From what I've seen, ghost
guns are like a black market
disguised as a legal one.
And that's not
something to cheer.
Unless you think guns belong
in the hands of gangsters,
underage kids,
or extremists trying to
overthrow our government.
♪
Do you wish that there
were clearer laws in place?
RYAN: Absolutely.
I, I think there's certain
people that have lost their
privilege to
possess a firearm.
POLICE OFFICER:
Search warrant!
BIDEN: And today, the United
States Department of Justice
is making it illegal.
To manufacture one of
these kits without a
serial number, illegal.
MARIANA: Though the Biden
administration is attempting
to regulate the sale of
at-home build kits,
experts fear this won't make
much difference because the
parts themselves remain
legal and available.
MARIANA: It's time for
Americans to ask themselves.
The son of a gun ♪
(gunshots)
REPORTER (over TV): A shooting
outside a Manhattan night club.
WOMAN (over phone): How many
shots did you hear?
MARIANA: Is this a
price we're willing to pay?
Captioned by
Cotter Media Group.