Homemade firearms, commonly called “ghost guns” by the media and anti-Second Amendment activists, are routinely vilified by anyone who figures they can get away with it.

Such guns aren’t exactly new, dating back to before the founding of this country, but these days there’s fear that such weapons allow criminals to obtain guns without a background check.

As if criminals haven’t been getting guns for decades already.

Now, Maryland is looking at a bill that will basically ban the practice in the state.

In Annapolis, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing Wednesday on a bill to ban ghost guns.

So-called “ghost guns” are easy to make but hard to trace, and Maryland officials are taking aim to outright ban them.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is expected to pass a new rule that would change the definition of what a firearm is, and Maryland leaders hope to adopt a law to do just that.

Legislation under consideration during Session 2022 targeted the supply chain of ghost guns and the criminals who use them. It would change the definition of a firearm to include unfinished frames or receivers, which would be similar to what will become the ATF’s definition.

Owning one of these guns would be illegal, and those who already have them could either have a licensed dealer serialize them or they could sell them to a licensed gun dealer. Gun owners that don’t do either could face a misdemeanor charge carrying three years in prison or a $10,000 fine under the legislation.

The problem, though, is that criminals the ATF simply can’t create a definition that covers everything that can be turned into a firearm.

Perhaps the best examples of this are the videos floating around where a guy turned a shovel into an AK receiver. Are shovels going to be considered unfinished receivers?

At some point, there will have to be a line drawn, and someone is going to start working on the other side of that line. It’s just that simple. After all, the 80 percent lowers were an effort to address a previous line as described to many people. (The ATF doesn’t currently have a line. It’s either a receiver–meaning it can be assembled into a gun–or it’s not.)

Cody Wilson already has his Ghost Gunner that takes a block of metal and turns it into a completed receiver.

Oh, I get that Maryland’s law will effectively criminalize people making their own guns, but as I’ve repeatedly argued, the only people it will stop are those who wish to obey the law. The criminals, who it’s supposedly meant to target, will just keep on making homemade firearms if they so desire.

I mean, they’re criminals. Duh.

Yet I have little doubt Maryland will pass this law. They seem to love their gun control and this is a popular bit of legislation in anti-gun states.

In the process, lawful folks wanting homemade firearms will just be out of luck while criminals will continue to do as they wish.