in the battle to get illegal guns off the street ghost guns are some of the hardest to track and Technology might actually be making it worse senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan attended a hearing today to learn how 3D printing of guns along with gun parts sold on the black market are wreaking havoc on our communities investigators played audio of multiple shots fired in Trenton a so-called numerous discharge event they claims part of a rising Statewide threat posed by easily obtained ghost guns whether assembled from kits or created out of plastic by 3D printers the weapons are cheap easy to get and used repeatedly in multiple crimes agents testified in a state house hearing ghost guns were associated with violent crimes such as shootings armed robberies as well as incidents of domestic violence and road rage ghost guns were also recovered along with high-capacity magazines a panel of experts told New Jersey state Commission of Investigation police went from recovering one ghost gun a week in 2019 to one per day last year the guns lack serial numbers but can be traced by their bullet casings detectives discovered individual weapons like this popular polymer 80 ghost gun were often used in multiple crimes in a single neighborhood this slide indicates five shootings occurred over a four-month period within the city of Trenton the first two shootings were at the same location days apart there were 11 victims two were killed the weapon recovered was recovered during a search warrant investigators identified just 21 guns used in 159 shootings all across New Jersey they say organized crime buys gun parts and bulk to maximize profits but that computer codes to print ghost guns are easy to download one undercover witness testified any idiot can put together the polymer 80s with this plastic gun it's like putting together Ikea furniture it comes with a blueprint it comes with a little jig to do it and you know what you don't have to be mechanically inclined to do it you drill a couple holes cut the plastic and within a couple hours somebody has a gun the internet also offers Black Market switches a small plastic piece that when inserted into a regular firearm transforms it into an automatic weapon often accompanied by plastic extend magazines the more bullets that are fired in an incident the more likely that gunfire kills someone hits bystanders or causes additional damage switches were available for sale on popular video sharing websites and China based Commerce websites both options appear to ship directly to any requested address these devices compromise weapons making them less reliable less accurate and more dangerous to bystanders and the general public there's no legitimate reason that a law-abiding citizen would possess a switch like all ghost gun part switches are easy to print and experts testified the technology is outstripping statutes the influx of tens of thousands of illegal weapons poses an obvious danger to the safety stability and security of our communities what may be less obvious is how much Havoc even one or two of these guns can wreak in a community experts testified New Jersey needs regulatory reforms and stronger statutes to address ghost guns switches and gun violence the seci will issue a report with recommendations in a few months at the State House Annex in Trenton I'm Brenda Flanagan NJ Spotlight News