BALTIMORE — The City of Baltimore was awarded $62 million after a jury ruled in the city’s favor Tuesday evening in its lawsuit against a Hanover-based firearm shop for selling untraceable “ghost guns” — the largest verdict against a gun dealer defendant in American history, according to a statement from Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott.
In 2022, Scott announced the city’s lawsuit against Hanover Armory, a firearm shop in Anne Arundel County accused of dealing ghost guns, which are assembled from pieces and therefore don’t contain serial numbers, without screening customers for ID or background checks.
Just as the suit was filed in 2022, Maryland began rolling out its statewide ban on ghost guns, driven in large part by a drastic increase in ghost gun recoveries by law enforcement, as well as crime committed with ghost guns.
According to the suit, the Baltimore Police Department reported a 1,500% increase in ghost gun seizures between 2019 and 2022, “with many of the recovered firearms linked to shootings, homicides, and youth-involved crimes.”
A plurality of ghost guns seized by BPD were manufactured by Polymer80, the nation’s largest ghost gun producer. The company was originally included in the suit filed by Baltimore but settled with the city in February 2024 and shut down later that year, citing financial stress from myriad lawsuits.
The suit alleged that Hanover Armory, situated just a few miles southwest of BWI Marshall Airport, sold ghost gun kits that appealed to “prohibited purchasers” from Baltimore, such as children, felons and individuals who would otherwise not pass a background check.
“Baltimore has lost generations of friends, neighbors, and loved ones to gun violence. Together, we are saying enough is enough. Today’s verdict is a massive victory in Baltimore’s fight against illegal ghost guns and the companies that have allowed these weapons to proliferate in our neighborhoods,” Scott said in a statement Tuesday.
The sum awarded to the city by the court will be placed into an abatement fund managed by Baltimore’s government and distributed to three community violence intervention groups: Safe Streets, the city’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy and Roca.
These groups “were identified by City witnesses at trial as community-based programs with a proven track record of effectively reducing gun violence in Baltimore City,” the Mayor’s Office of the Communications said in a statement Thursday.
The City of Baltimore was awarded $62 million after a jury ruled in the city’s favor Tuesday evening in its lawsuit against a Hanover-based firearm shop for selling untraceable “ghost guns” — the largest verdict against a gun dealer defendant in American history, according to a statement from Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott.
In 2022, Scott announced the city’s lawsuit against Hanover Armory, a firearm shop in Anne Arundel County accused of dealing ghost guns, which are assembled from pieces and therefore don’t contain serial numbers, without screening customers for ID or background checks.
Just as the suit was filed in 2022, Maryland began rolling out its statewide ban on ghost guns, driven in large part by a drastic increase in ghost gun recoveries by law enforcement, as well as crime committed with ghost guns.
According to the suit, the Baltimore Police Department reported a 1,500% increase in ghost gun seizures between 2019 and 2022, “with many of the recovered firearms linked to shootings, homicides, and youth-involved crimes.”
A plurality of ghost guns seized by BPD were manufactured by Polymer80, the nation’s largest ghost gun producer. The company was originally included in the suit filed by Baltimore but settled with the city in February 2024 and shut down later that year, citing financial stress from myriad lawsuits.
The suit alleged that Hanover Armory, situated just a few miles southwest of BWI Marshall Airport, sold ghost gun kits that appealed to “prohibited purchasers” from Baltimore, such as children, felons and individuals who would otherwise not pass a background check.
“Baltimore has lost generations of friends, neighbors, and loved ones to gun violence. Together, we are saying enough is enough. Today’s verdict is a massive victory in Baltimore’s fight against illegal ghost guns and the companies that have allowed these weapons to proliferate in our neighborhoods,” Scott said in a statement Tuesday.
The sum awarded to the city by the court will be placed into an abatement fund managed by Baltimore’s government and distributed to three community violence intervention groups: Safe Streets, the city’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy and Roca.
These groups “were identified by City witnesses at trial as community-based programs with a proven track record of effectively reducing gun violence in Baltimore City,” the Mayor’s Office of the Communications said in a statement Thursday.
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—Racquel Bazos contributed to this article.
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