Untraceable DIY firearms a growing scourge in the US — and Sonoma County

Calling mass shootings in America an “international embarrassment,” President Joe Biden announced measures in April to curb gun violence.

Biden had no illusions. Fully aware he wasn’t about to get gun reform legislation through a divided Congress, he directed Attorney General Merrick Garland to identify “immediate concrete” steps the administration could take to curb gun violence.

Their first target: ghost guns, homemade weapons built from kits easily ordered online. Ghost guns have no serial numbers and can’t be traced when they turn up at the scene of a crime. Buyers don’t need to pass a background check to get one.

“Consequently,” said Biden, “anyone from a criminal to a terrorist can buy this kit.”

The problem is especially acute in California, a state whose stringent gun laws have had the unintended consequence of making ghost guns an attractive option for people otherwise prohibited from owning firearms.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced last month that the state was joining a lawsuit — first filed by San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin — against three companies that make and sell ghost gun kits.

“Ghost guns are flooding into communities across California and people are being killed as a result,” said Esther Sanchez-Gomez, an attorney for the Giffords Law Center, which joined the suit.

Sonoma County has been no exception. In 2018, Santa Rosa police seized three ghost guns. Through Nov. 10, said Sgt. Chris Mahurin, officers had brought in 37 such weapons in 2021 — more than a quarter of all the firearms they’d collected for evidence purposes.

Responding to Biden’s urgent request, Garland’s Justice Department announced an executive action that would expand the definition of “firearm” to include ghost gun kits.

The new rule, requiring no approval from Congress, could go into effect by late 2021. When it does, ghost guns will be treated like other guns: they’ll be required to have serial numbers and will only be sold after a background check.

That rule is certain to be challenged in court.

“Building your own firearm is a right we have had since the firearm was invented,” declared Jordan Vinson in an email to The Press Democrat. Vinson founded JSD Supply, one of the country’s leading distributors of ghost gun kits.

Biden swatted that argument aside in April, noting that none of rules he proposed ran afoul of the Second Amendment.

From the dawn of America, he said, “you couldn’t own any weapon you wanted to own.” From nation’s earliest days, “certain people weren’t allowed to have weapons.”

The ghosts of our Founding Fathers, in Biden’s opinion, would frown on ghost guns.

You can reach Staff Writer Austin Murphy at 707-521-5214 or austin.murphy@pressdemocrat.com or on Twitter @ausmurph88.