Baltimore awarded $62 million in ghost gun lawsuit against arms dealer
A Maryland firearms dealer that Baltimore leaders said intensified its gun violence crisis between 2019 and 2022 owes the city $62 million in damages, a jury said recently.
A statement from the city called it “the largest ever verdict a gun dealer defendant has been dealt in American history.”
Three years ago, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D) and the city council filed a lawsuit accusing Hanover Armory, a gun retailer based in Hanover, Maryland; and Polymer80, the once leading manufacturer of ghost gun parts based in Nevada, of public nuisance and negligence for selling ghost gun kits without proper background checks, boosting violent crime and widespread suffering across the city, officials said.
Ghost gun recoveries in Baltimore rose by nearly 1,500% between 2019 and 2022, and many were connected to shootings, homicides and youth crime, according to the city’s statement. Nearly a quarter of the recovered guns came from individuals under 21, Maryland’s legal age to possess a firearm, according to the lawsuit.
Baltimore joins other cities, including the District and Los Angeles, that have won lawsuits to keep ghost guns out of their communities.
The weapons, which are sold in pieces and can be made at home, are harder to trace because of a lack of serial numbers. The Baltimore suit was filed in 2022, on the same day a Maryland law banning the sale, receipt or transfer of untraceable guns, including an unfinished frame or receiver, took effect.
Polymer80 agreed to pay $1.2 million in 2024 and to stop selling its products in Maryland and to residents in neighboring states.
The trial against Hanover Armory began earlier this month in Baltimore City Circuit Court and culminated with Wednesday’s verdict.
“To be clear: there are legitimate businesses that sell firearms legally and respect safeguards designed to keep people safe. Hanover is not one of them,” Scott said in the statement. “We are making it clear: anyone - any company - who enables violence in our city will be held accountable.”
Representatives of Hanover Armory said in a statement that the arms dealer plans to appeal the verdict. A contact email listed on a website for Polymer80 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In its lawsuit, Baltimore officials had argued that Hanover Armory “violates Maryland and federal firearms laws by selling Polymer80 kits and parts without taking any steps to ensure that these products do not fall into the wrong hands.” Untraceable guns attract those who are prohibited from purchasing firearms legally, including children, according to the city’s statement.
Polymer80, like other ghost gun kit manufacturers, have said the parts do not legally qualify as firearms and are legal, because portions of the gun are only 80 percent finished, and require additional drilling and machining so other components can be attached.
Data shows the number of ghost guns seized by authorities has declined in recent years. City police had recovered 150 ghost guns this year as of July 1, according to a midyear report from the department. By comparison, in the first five months of 2022, authorities said police had recovered 187.
The city has seen an overall decrease in homicides and gun violence.
Baltimore was represented in its lawsuit by the city’s Department of Law, Brady: United Against Gun Violence, Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight and Berger Montague.
“Let this be a neon bright sign to gun dealers like Hanover Armory in Maryland and around the country: if you flood nearby communities with ghost guns or other firearms intended for crime and homicide, you will be held accountable,” Kris Brown, president of Brady United, said in a statement.
The city plans to use the money to help support three community violence intervention groups.
“Baltimore has lost generations of friends, neighbors, and loved ones to gun violence. Together, we are saying enough is enough,” Scott said in the statement.