Elected officials are taking steps to outlaw homemade guns in Santa Clara County.
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors will consider creating an ordinance to prohibit the possession, manufacturing and assembly of ghost guns.
Ghost guns are homemade firearms without serial numbers, sometimes built from kits or 3D printers. Easy to order online and assemble, and virtually untraceable, these guns have become increasingly popular in violent crimes, according to Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen.
“In 2015, we recovered four ghost guns in our county. Last year, 293—an exponential increase,” Rosen said during a news conference last week. “These guns are not being made by hobbyists who are making them for fun. These guns are made and sold on the streets to criminals who are using them all acquired in a transaction that is completely without regulation.”
In February, Rosen’s office announced three people had been arrested for running a ghost gun factory in a house in San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood. According to the DA, law enforcement recovered more than eight assault rifles, two handguns, firearm parts and three 3D printers. Rosen said San Jose police recently killed a suspected carjacker who fired on them with an un-serialized ghost gun.
“They are a problem because you can make them at home, with DIY kits and parts,” San Jose Police Department spokesperson Christian Camarillo told San José Spotlight. “Many prohibited persons, felons for example, are being arrested with ghost guns.”
Citing statistics from the city, county Supervisor Cindy Chavez said at the news conference there was a 400% increase between 2020 and 2021 of incidents where minors were arrested in possession of ghost guns.
California state law already makes it a misdemeanor to own an un-serialized firearm, and manufacturers of even 3D printed guns must apply for a serial number before completing a gun. A law going into effect in July tightens the requirements for selling certain firearm parts.
Santa Clara County wouldn’t be the first in California to pass a ban on ghost guns. Last year, San Diego County approved an ordinance prohibiting 3D printing of firearms or parts and the possession of ghost guns. San Francisco and Los Angeles also passed similar laws last year.
Supervisor Otto Lee hopes the county will go a little further.
“There’s some proactive action we need to take to make sure (ghost guns) don’t enter our county,” Lee told San José Spotlight. “It’s becoming a real issue in our community, so we really do need to work much closer with our law enforcement agencies to shut down these operations.”
San Jose has also cracked down on firearms over the past year, most recently by becoming the first city in the nation to require gun owners to have liability insurance.
San Jose resident Dave Truslow, a National Rifle Association firearm instructor, told San José Spotlight bans on ghost guns seem to be in vogue across California. He said these ordinances are not effective at reducing gun violence, noting it’s already illegal under state and federal law to transfer or sell an un-serialized firearm.
“It will serve absolutely no purpose,” Truslow said. “I’m angered and frustrated because there’s so many things that could be done to improve public safety and reduce violence, and this is just a convenient distraction that is nothing more than virtue signaling.”
The Board of Supervisors meeting takes place Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. Learn how to watch and participate.
Contact Eli Wolfe at [email protected] or @EliWolfe4 on Twitter.
This story will be updated.
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People who think you should own guns: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, MLK, Gandhi
People who think you shouldn’t: Hitler, Stalin, Kim Jong II, Obama, Biden
Any questions?
Great job getting those off street …but City council and Sammie make sure those felons get their insurance policies for those guns…when they are let out….when they get bailed out or released on O R .. with the revolving door jail ….they will re arm by what we see on felon repeat crimes …….
and minors with guns Make sure mommy and daddy’s are held started being held accountable… how about that too. When their offsring..who take their firearms because they don’t lock them up ……put them in jail ..and should get the insurance Too..
Since there are already state and federal laws banning these ghost guns, and criminals are being arrested under those laws, what could be the purpose of a duplicative county ordinance? Oh, yeah, there’s elections coming up, so the Supes want to buff up their anti-crime image as they talk out of the other side of their mouths about reducing law enforcement budgets by transferring money from the jails and enforcement to mental health and social welfare purposes.
So, let me get this straight:
A felon, who by law, cannot purchase or possess a firearm will not be allowed to make a firearm.
Since mere possession of said firearm is already illegal, then prohibiting manufacture addresses what part of the problem?
Meanwhile, Joe Citizen(never been in trouble with the law). Wants to make his own firearm for his personal use.
If Citizen Joe wishes to sell his personally made firearm, by law he must affix a personal serial number and report it to the state. This ensures it isn’t delivered into the hands of a criminal.
The new law will not stop felons from obtaining/manufacturing firearms and will turn the law abiding into criminals.
A novel idea would be to enhance ‘felon in possession’ laws and actually criminally prosecute violators.
Considering the excrement in SF and LA that think punishment for criminals is bad, it makes sense for them to punish the working class law abiding members of society.
I’ll just copy and paste the last two paragraphs from above, because they contain the only relevant information on this subject.
“San Jose resident Dave Truslow, a National Rifle Association firearm instructor, told San José Spotlight bans on ghost guns seem to be in vogue across California. He said these ordinances are not effective at reducing gun violence, noting it’s already illegal under state and federal law to transfer or sell an un-serialized firearm.
“’It will serve absolutely no purpose,’” Truslow said. “’I’m angered and frustrated because there’s so many things that could be done to improve public safety and reduce violence, and this is just a convenient distraction that is nothing more than virtue signaling.’”
It’s an election year.
I support preventing convicted felons from owning guns. But nothing in the article backs up the title’s bold claim that the county can make ghost guns “disappear.”
The headline is silly — Santa Clara County politicians are completely feckless, even worse, their policies have often been destructive. These guns are already illegal. The article states:
“In February, Rosen’s office announced three people had been arrested for running a ghost gun factory in a house in San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood. According to the DA, law enforcement recovered more than eight assault rifles, two handguns, firearm parts and three 3D printers.”
The arrested must have been made pursuant to existing law, which did not stop the criminals from committing felonies. How is the new law going to do anything that the old law couldn’t accomplish? Perhaps the sophomoric sorority sisters (male and female) commonly known as the Board of Sups will pass a law to license all 3D printers and require their owners to pay an annual fee and carry liability insurance. 😂 You can just see the photo op of 5 or 6 “protesters” milling about the steps of the county building carrying signs (most likely printed by SEIU) with slogans like “BAN THE 3D!”
Dave Truslow, a National Rifle Association firearm instructor, who was quoted in the article, understands and stated the obvious.
All these new gun laws are merely virtue signaling by Democrat politicians who are attempting to claim that they are tough on crime but actually do nothing effective. The looming mid-terms have the Dems panties in a knot!
If anyone that wants to join an organization that has a focus on government (i.e., watchdog) and a priority on firearms, please consider looking at Silicon Valley Public Accountability Foundation (https://svpaf.org). There are other government failures the organization is looking into (including public records transparency and homelessness), and with more capacity, more can be done.
Kirk Vartan
Full disclosure: I am a co-founder of this group and currently on the Board.
“Santa Clara County could make ghost guns vanish”
No it wont. The powers that be can’t make them vanish because the revolving door that is our new progressive legal system will spit the bad guys back out onto the streets and back to their bad behaviors.
Until we start caring about crime victims more than about perpetrators, demand change, and start voting progressive government out of office, things are going to get worse, not better.
Well, through Cody they made a ghost town out of downtown San Jose and all tech and convention centers so it’s not surprising at all that they’d want to do this.
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