NJ Gets First-In-The-Nation Settlement With Ghost Gun Company

NEW JERSEY - New Jersey has reached a first-of-its-kind settlement with a ghost gun company that stops the sale of untraceable weapons and brings $70,000 to the Garden State, according to Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal.

“Protecting New Jerseyans is one of my primary responsibilities as chief law enforcement officer, and to do that, we must keep untraceable firearms off our streets,” Grewal said. “We put ghost gun vendors on notice about the consequences of violating our State’s laws over a year ago. Many responded by blocking ghost gun sales to New Jersey residents. Companies that refuse to comply with our laws voluntarily will be held accountable in court.”

Grewal and the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs sued over the company’s advertising and marketing of ghost guns to New Jersey residents and delivery of an assault firearms kit to a New Jersey buyer.

The March 2019 lawsuit against James Tromblee, Jr. also was the country’s first such lawsuit against a ghost gun distributor.

“Ghost guns” are partially assembled firearms sold with the parts needed to create a fully-operational gun, often with the instructions on how to do so. Because “ghost guns” are incomplete when sold, companies do not require purchasers to go through background checks, allowing prohibited persons—including terrorists, fugitives, and felons—to obtain firearms that they otherwise would not be able to purchase.

Completed “ghost guns” lack traceable serial numbers, making it harder for law enforcement to trace them to their owners and solve gun-related crimes.

In a final consent judgment approved by the court Thursday, U.S. Patriot Armory has agreed to stop advertising and shipping ghost guns and untraceable parts to New Jersey consumers, and to pay $70,000 to resolve the State’s lawsuit, among other relief.

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