LA City Council moves closer to banning ghost guns

The City Council took a large measurement connected Tuesday, Aug. 31, toward prohibiting the possession, purchase, sale, receipt and proscription of “ghost guns” successful Los Angeles.

The assembly voted 14-0 to person the City Attorney’s Office draught an ordinance prohibiting shade guns, besides known arsenic kit guns and 80% receivers. The virtually untraceable weapons tin beryllium assembled by unlicensed buyers from legally purchased kits.

The unfinished parts are inexpensive and not required nether national instrumentality to person serial numbers oregon a inheritance cheque to purchase. According to the weapon power advocacy enactment Everytown For Gun Safety, an AR-15 shade weapon kit and little receiver tin beryllium purchased for $345.

Ghost guns accounted for much than 40% of guns confiscated by the national Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and one-third of transgression guns recovered by the Los Angeles Police Department successful 2020.

“When we spot an summation successful homicides here, and erstwhile we spot that the LAPD reports that 40% of the transgression guns recovered are shade guns, we cognize that we person a precise urgent captious concern that needs to beryllium addressed,” Councilman Paul Krekorian said Tuesday earlier the unanimous ballot to walk the question helium introduced with Councilman Paul Koretz connected Aug. 10.

LAPD Deputy Chief Kris Pitcher told assembly members earlier the ballot that 1,084 shade guns person been recovered truthful acold successful 2020, and the section expects it could retrieve 2,500 by the extremity of the year.

“Ghost guns person been astir for astir 9 years, however, they person surfaced arsenic a large occupation successful 2020 with the confiscation of 814 shade guns conscionable past twelvemonth unsocial successful Los Angeles,” Pitcher said.

The question besides directs the LAPD to contiguous information to the assembly wrong 14 days connected the interaction of shade guns successful Los Angeles, including the fig of non-serialized firearms confiscated from radical and recovered astatine transgression scenes and the fig of shootings and homicides that progressive non-serialized firearms.

Ghost guns were utilized during a 2013 shooting astatine Santa Monica College successful which six people, including the shooter, died; a bid of shootings successful Tehama County successful 2017, successful which 5 radical died; and the 2019 shooting astatine Saugus High School successful 2019, successful which 3 students, including the shooter, were killed and 3 others were injured.

“There are nary national restrictions connected who could bargain shade weapon kits … and they’re intentionally marketed arsenic unregulated and untraceable to entreaty to radical prohibited from purchasing firearms locally,” Koretz said. “This is perfectly ridiculous to deliberation that the manufacture, merchantability and selling of these weapons is intended for thing but skirting a loophole successful the authorities and national weapon laws to get firearms into the hands of radical who instrumentality enforcement and we arsenic a nine person deemed arsenic unfit to person those guns.”

The City Attorney’s Office suggested that nationalist discussions bash not instrumentality spot regarding imaginable ineligible investigation and issues astir the ordinance, arsenic those discussions could beryllium utilized successful a suit against the metropolis implicit the pending ordinance.

Regarding imaginable ineligible challenges to the law, Krekorian added, “We often extremity up successful litigation implicit these things and truthful beryllium it. But let’s support successful caput that each azygous clip we person enacted immoderate common-sense weapon restrictions … you ever hear, ‘well this is an imposition connected the law-abiding weapon owner.’ No law-abiding weapon proprietor needs to person a weapon that doesn’t person a serial number, that’s assembled from parts that are delivered implicit the internet.”

The ATF recovered astir 10,000 shade guns successful the United States successful 2019, 2,700 of which were successful California.

Once the City Attorney’s Office prepares the draught ordinance, it volition beryllium sent to the City Council for a vote.

Krekorian introduced a question approved successful February to authorize City Attorney Mike Feuer to negociate contracts with 2 instrumentality firms to person their pro bono services to make and instrumentality ineligible strategies to combat shade guns.