The Gunsmith

Client: It was me the whole time… I told friends and family I was taking time off – hanging around the house. The entire time, I was manufacturing ghost guns in my basement. At first, it didn’t seem like a big deal or a bad idea. It’s been all over the news, so what’s a few more?

​Criminals get what they want, regardless of who gives it to them. I didn’t feel like I was creating any violence that would not happen by any means necessary without my help.

It started that spring. By the end of the month, it had gotten away from me. There was more work and clientele than I really wanted to imagine.

​The real problems came when it showed in my guns that I had great skill. My products shot straighter, and I worked too quickly. I did not charge my real worth in the beginning. This all led to way too much business, and it was all becoming conspicuous fast.

​My job at the foundry was decent, but I couldn’t keep fibbing that, although I was bumming around on endless savings, I was a little too busy to drop by. It had been eight months of this stuff, with friends offering gas money just to get me out of the house. I had five figures in the bank, without needing a damn thing.

Basically, Jack Ballast found my clients, and they would tell me over my personal cell how they’d like their piece. Most just mention a few guns they like the style of and the caliber they’d prefer. Pickier clients would want to come by and see my equipment. Most of it is improvised masonry and locksmithing tools. It’s not really easy work, but the money is great. The people are creepy because they are overly good-natured about what we are all doing.

It’s all smiles and friendly faces, but it essentially comes down to murder.

​At first, it was just Jack, but he gained a reputation, and people that he associated with wanted to talk directly to me. People get very personal about their firearms, and when they can be custom-made, they have their own suggestions.

​I first started to reconsider when I needed a cover story for my time and income. Friends and coworkers were suspecting drugs, and I was tempted to do drugs or drink because of how my schedule was getting. I was glad to already be divorced, as no decent wife would tolerate a gun shop in the basement.

​I started to have bad dreams and panic attacks. My guns shot straighter and faster. What if I were handing out more murder than the next guy? It did not get better over time. I grew timid and paranoid. My social life is gone at this point because I barely knew how to field accusations about drugs. I hadn’t even tried dating since my divorce, which had been about one year before the crime started.

​I really just want out, whatever that may mean. I need to selfishly assuage the guilt I have been living with every time I consider the successful results of my work. My guns were not going to security guards, cops, or soldiers unless they had some strange personal habits.

​When that was the case, it was worse. White supremacists who wanted a swastika on the handle. That was the absolute most demeaning work to get.

​I just keep questioning myself every day. It’s distracting me from actually doing the work. I’m sure the quality is slipping now. How can I really keep doing this? I need some way out of this, whatever it may take. I’m not really sure how to go about it. If it’s names and dates, I can give what I have, but it’s often one or the other, or incomplete hearsay. I kept no records whatsoever besides dollar amounts owed. Those records were only kept until payment.

I have no other excuse for some of the materials I’ve bought online. No other use for it. So many firing pins, I can’t stand it. Not normal purchases for a collector or hobbyist. It should be obvious from my debit purchase history what I was doing.

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Dear Mr. Vex:

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Our firm can handle the details of your confession, but we cannot guarantee you will not be prosecuted. We may also recommend witness protection. Once our process starts, there’s no guarantee of a particular outcome, only that we will improve your position.

Mr. Vex: "This is Vex. I’m looking at the notes you sent over. Let’s walk through the timeline. You claim you were working at the foundry full-time, but then you say you were manufacturing these... 'ghost guns' in your basement the entire time?"

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Client: "Right. Yeah. It was a constant cycle. I'd come home, head straight downstairs. Sometimes I didn’t even clock in at the foundry—I’d just tell them I was there, but the money was coming in from the guns anyway. That went on the whole time."

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Mr. Vex: "And yet, you mentioned earlier that your friends were offering you gas money to get you out of the house because they thought you were just bumming around on savings. If you were making five figures, why would you let them pay for your gas? That seems like an odd detail to overlook."

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Client: "I didn’t want them to know! I was paranoid. I had to keep the ruse going that I was broke, that I was just struggling to find work. It made sense at the time."

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Mr. Vex: "It seems a bit elaborate, don't you think? You’re making 'five figures'—your words—but you’re letting people pity you for gas money? That's quite a cover story to maintain. Let's talk about 'Jack.' You said he was your first client, but you also said the people he associated with came directly to you. How exactly did he facilitate that, considering you were supposedly hiding this entire operation?"

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Client: "Well, it happened fast. It wasn't like a business card situation. It was just… word of mouth. Jack told people I was the guy. I don't know exactly what he told them."

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So, you were running a high-volume manufacturing operation in your basement, working fast enough that your quality was 'conspicuous,' yet you have no records, no real paper trail, and you're relying on hearsay from someone named Jack whose credibility is... unknown? You’re asking me to build a legal defense around this story.

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Client: "I’m telling you the truth, Mr. Vex! I swear, every word."

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Mr. Vex: "People often swear to the truth when they’re trying to convince themselves of it, too. Let's take a break. I need you to think very carefully about these specifics, because if we go into a courtroom with this story, the prosecutor is going to dismantle it before we even sit down. Are you sure that’s exactly how it happened?”

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At that, the client hung up the phone. He felt trapped and anxious, but what could he do?