Every day, Montgomery County police find illegal, untraceable modified guns in the hands of people who are not legally allowed to own guns.
Police say that in the past two weeks alone, they have found several loaded guns during routine patrols, some of which had been modified to fire faster and hold far more rounds than the guns carried by officers.
“The sad thing is, we’re now removing these guns from our streets almost daily,” Lt. Steven Fink said.
One Sunday morning, an Abington police officer spotted a vehicle with dark tinted windows and fake license plates. When the officer approached the vehicle, it sped away without the officer giving chase.
However, the driver crashed the vehicle in nearby Cheltenham Township.
Police said there were three juveniles in the vehicle, all under the age of 21, who then discarded a backpack containing three loaded guns from the vehicle.
“All of these young people are under the legal age of 21 to possess a firearm,” Fink said. “All three of these handguns were recovered from backpacks. As you can see, they had extended magazines. [and] It was a heavy burden at the time.”
Some of the guns police found had their serial numbers scratched off or were untraceable ghost guns. Some even had additions added to them.
Fink explained that when the extended magazine is attached to a gun with a full-auto switch, it can fire 30 rounds in about two seconds.
Police say in both cases the guns were in the hands of criminals and were discovered during minor traffic violations.
“We’re going to continue to stop these vehicles … you know what the consequences are for minor infractions,” Fink said.
Once the gun is processed, it is checked against a national database, giving investigators more information about the gun and its whereabouts.
Just two weeks ago, officers recovered a gun found in a bathroom at an Abington Township business.
“The guns found in the Abington store were used in two murders and four shootings in Philadelphia,” Fink said.
Police can trace where some of the firearms came from and what crimes they were used in, but further investigation is needed to find who used them.
DNA and other evidence was taken from the weapon in an effort to identify the culprit.
