Time and time again, we keep hearing how there’s a growing epidemic of “ghost guns” being used in violent crime. Now, I don’t think this is made up out of thin air. I can see why a ghost gun would be attractive to a criminal, but not any more than any other black market gun. Sure, they could build one themselves if they wanted, but most aren’t that industrious. They probably buy them from illegal manufacturers–people who are already breaking existing laws by doing so.

Yet we keep hearing the problem is growing.

Now, an Omaha, Nebraska news station has reported these guns have started showing up on their city’s streets.

Law enforcement works hard taking guns off the street. It’s even tougher when they’re homemade. Something called “Ghost guns” by some in law enforcement are impossible to track.

Another one just showed up in Omaha.

One? A whole gun just showed up?

Really?

…

OH MY GOD, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! IT’S A WHOLE GHOST GUN! RUN! SAVE YOURSELVES! THE APOCALYPSE IS HERE BECAUSE SOMEONE HAD A GHOST GUN! WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!

Ridiculous, right?

Yet that’s the hysteria we’re seeing.

I’ve been arguing that while no one has been lying about the “problem,” the fact that they failed to give us any real numbers so we can understand the magnitude of the issue was telling. They weren’t saying how many of these weapons were being found, which suggested that the numbers would only be staggering in the sense that they were so small.

After all, if we were talking tens of thousands of these guns, you know they’d tell us. They’d make it a point to tell us so they could justify bans on such things.

Where this news outlet screwed up was giving us a point to quantify the issue.

A whole gun.

In Omaha, Nebraska. A state where there are probably thousands of such weapons.

Now, Omaha ain’t exactly New York or Chicago, but with over 468,000 people, it’s not exactly small-town America, either. If a single gun is showing up is what’s inducing this degree of hysteria, just how pathetic are the numbers everywhere else these stories have popped up? Well, we have an idea, actually.

It seems the ATF has found 50 “ghost guns” all throughout the midwest.

A whole 50.

Let’s consider that Chicago is considered “midwest” for a moment. So is St. Louis.

These are two of the most violent cities in the country, and throughout the entire region they occupy, a total of 50 of these guns were found. Sorry if I’m not particularly alarmed.

Look, it’s important to understand that in this day and age, the ability to stop people from making their own guns is non-existent. It’s not like it was before, of course, but a zip gun and a Glock clone are lightyears apart. Then again, anyone with access to the machines could still make their own guns before.

This is nothing new, but it’s also impossible to stop in the first place.

As it stands, these guns are illegal. Criminals can’t legally build a gun. People can’t make guns for sale unless they have the proper licensing. And yet, they still do.

What we’re seeing, though, is evidence that the problem isn’t nearly as bad as some want to make it out. It kind of makes you wonder just why they’d do that, except we already know. They want to justify bans on these types of firearms, and they can’t do that unless you can get people scared enough.

That’s all this is about, and with this, we can see it.