FDNY Misfire
A city fire marshal brought a Polymer 80 "ghost gun" to FDNY headquarters -- proving how dangerous the illegal homemade firearms can be: "I shot myself in the foot!"
A stunning new detail has emerged about the FDNY fire marshal arrested April 27 after accidentally shooting himself with an illegal weapon.
It was a “ghost gun,” an unserialized and untraceable firearm assembled with parts bought online and often found among criminals. In 2022, ex-Mayor Eric Adams and then-NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewall blamed ghost guns for rising gun violence and homicides, including that of a 16-year-old Bronx girl killed by a stray bullet.
Fire marshal James A. Beringer brought a ghost gun to FDNY headquarters at Metrotech Center, a criminal complaint by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office charges. The DA’s office released the document on Monday at my request.
Beringer, described by sources as a gun buff, was showing the weapon to someone in an “computer room” on the 8th floor, where the Fire Commissioner’s office is located, when it misfired.
“I shot myself in the foot!” a fellow fire marshal heard Beringer yell, according to the complaint.
The fire marshal who heard Beringer scream saw a gun in a holster on the floor. An NYPD detective who arrived later found the firearm – a 9mm Polymer 80 frame, loaded with one magazine and eight cartridges -- inside a safe in the room.
The Polymer 80 frame is sold online with kits used to build Glock-like 9mm pistols.
In New York, it’s illegal even for NYPD officers and FDNY fire marshals, who carry firearms on the job, to possess ghost guns because they can’t be registered.
Beringer is charged with criminal possession of a weapon, a low-level Class E felony, and 4th degree criminal possession of a weapon, a misdemeanor.
“I don’t understand why a fire marshal would go to the extreme of carrying a ghost gun,” Felipe Rodriguez, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told me.
“It’s a dangerous situation, because these guns are made by somebody in a basement. It’s not going to be as reliable as a factory-created firearm that’s been tested over and over again with strict standards.
“I’ve carried firearms for over 31 years in my career, and I’m a firearms instructor. I would not play around with a ghost gun – no way, no how.”
Beringer’s offense should not be treated lightly, Rodriguez added: “He basically endangered people’s lives in an office building, a fire department facility. So, I think the charges should stick, and they should make an example out of him.”
Beringer, who collected $244,331 in NYC pay last fiscal year (with overtime on top of his $122,474 base salary), was about to retire.
FDNY spokeswoman Amanda Farinacci said Beringer was suspended without pay upon his arrest. She would not say if or when Beringer had filed for retirement, or for a higher-paying disability retirement.
Farinacci said the department had no comment on the shooting accident or charges against Beringer, saying only, “It’s all under investigation.”
Beringer’s defense lawyer, Robert Gallo, did not return a message seeking comment on his client’s behalf.
Among the most tragic cases linked to ghost guns, Angellyh Yambo, a Bronx high school student who dreamed of becoming a doctor, was killed in April 2022 by a stray bullet amid a gang gunfight near University Prep Charter High School, where she was a student.
A 17-year-old who pleaded guilty to the murder was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. In 2024, Angellyh’s mother, Yanely Henriquez, sued Polymer 80, claiming the company “intentionally structured their business to circumvent firearm laws by designing, manufacturing, and selling ghost gun kits that can readily be assembled into functional firearms, without a background check.”
In April 2025, a Bronx Supreme Court judge ruled Polymer 80 liable by default. An upcoming trial will determine the damages.
Typical and disturbing.
I wonder what Steven Bishop Lee thinks about this.