Nationwide Push to Ban ‘Ghost Guns’ Gains Steam with New Legislation

2nd Amendment – R2KBA Authors Jordan Michaels This Week
Nationwide Push to Ban 'Ghost Guns' Gains Steam with New Legislation
“Ghost guns” are most often constructed from unfinished lower receivers.

If you’ve noticed an uptick in media reports decrying the dangers of “ghost guns,” there’s a reason: gun control advocates have launched a nationwide campaign to gin up support for a new bill that would severely restrict not only unserialized firearms but also kits designed to build firearms from serialized receivers.

“We need national laws from Congress that covers a total ban on the creation or selling of these ghost gun kits,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said in an episode of 60 Minutes that aired over the weekend.  

Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal is happy to oblige. Politico reported today that the senator plans to reintroduce legislation that would restrict both the 80 percent lower receivers commonly used to build “ghost guns” as well as kits designed to assemble firearms from serialized receivers.

“There has been a tremendous proliferation of firearm sales generally, but most particularly for these types of untraceable weapons that essentially provide ‘crime guns’ that are really dangerous,” Blumenthal said, trying to connect his legislation to the coronavirus pandemic. “They are clearly a means to evade the current federal laws.”

Millions of build-it-yourself gun kits have been sold in the last decade, according to Dimitrios Karras. Karras runs a gun shop in California that specializes in the kits, and he told 60 Minutes that he’s sold between 300,000 and 500,000 individual units since 2010.

SEE ALSO: Schumer Calls on DOJ, ATF to Crack Down on ‘Ghost Guns’ (Gun Parts, Kits)

Despite the proliferation of “ghost guns,” Villanueva rejects the idea that the majority of buyers are harmless hobbyists.

“The only people interested in that are not enthusiasts who like to tinker around with machines,” he told 60 Minutes. “They’re not hobbyists. These are people that should never have a firearm, and that’s how they found a way to get one.”

Blumenthal’s most recent bill has not yet been introduced, but a failed 2018 version would classify an “unfinished receiver” as a “firearm” as well as “any combination of parts designed or intended for use in converting any device into a firearm and from which a firearm may be readily assembled.”

Classifying these components as firearms would subject them to the same restrictions as complete, functioning weapons.

The bill may also ban anyone who does not hold a federal firearms license from building a firearm from a parts kit—even if that kit requires a complete, serialized receiver:

“The term ‘manufacturing firearms’ shall include assembling a functional firearm from a frame or receiver or molding, machining, or 3D printing a frame or receiver, and shall not include making or fitting special barrels, stocks, or trigger mechanisms to firearms,” the bill states.

In other words, the bill allows a person to swap a trigger on an AR-15, but it may ban that person from swapping any of the other components of a lower receiver without the appropriate license.

SEE ALSO: Ghost Guns with the Push of a Button: Ghost Gunner CNC Mill – SHOT Show 2018

The specifics of how this bill would apply to individuals not “engaged in the business” of manufacturing firearms is difficult to determine. But it would doubtless have a chilling effect on the cottage industry of hobbyists who build their own AR-15’s, Glock’s, and 1911’s.

The anti-gun group Giffords has also joined the campaign. They recently launched a “ghost guns initiative” to “bring national attention to the alarming rise in the use of dangerous, untraceable do-it-yourself weapons.”

“During a time of surging gun sales, it’s imperative that we pay more attention to ghost guns,” Giffords Executive Director Peter Ambler said in a statement. “Because these aren’t just tools for hobbyists. These do-it-yourself guns are untraceable, making it easier for people who are not legally allowed to own a firearm to obtain one and more difficult for law enforcement officers to do their jobs.”

The ATF does not know how many “ghost guns” are actually being used in crime, ATF Assistant Director of Field Operations Thomas Chittum told 60 Minutes.

While there is anecdotal evidence from some precincts that the prevalence is rising, even the 60 Minutes investigation wasn’t able to provide specific data.

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  • Richard Long May 18, 2020, 5:26 pm

    building a weapon that doesn’t have a serial number shouldn’t be allowed. I’m a gun owner and shooter
    and tracking down guns used in crimes where a serial number is involved has helped the police
    solve a lot of crimes. Isn’t it the criminals who file off serial number.

  • Dennis R Wenger May 18, 2020, 6:47 am

    I’d wager that IF they recovered any “Ghost Guns” from Crime Scene’s or felons, they were stolen to start with. Just how would that be definitely be traced in NCIC?

  • Bemused Berserker May 17, 2020, 11:42 am

    Where’s the statistical evidence supporting the claim that “Ghost Gun” usage during the commission of criminal acts is increasing? There isn’t any increase is the answer to that. TTBOMK, only one Ghost Gun recovered post crime that qualifies as a home built weapon has been used. In that situation, the perpetrator purchased the gun from a guy building them. The perp couldn’t legally own, purchase or possess a firearm (having priors), and the guy who built the gun and sold it, broke the law. The crime still would have occurred, had the perp chosen to buy a BM firearm (or purchase it from Eric Holder).
    There simply isn’t the statistical data supporting so called “Ghost Guns” as being a REAL problem, and I seriously doubt there ever will be. Yes, with simple hand tools it’s possible to build a firearm, but it takes a certain skill level to do it well and consistently, and the average thug doesn’t possess the temperament to be successful at it.
    Once again, the Lame Stream Media, is pushing a narrative that’s a statistically insignificant factor in crimes committed with guns, while ignoring and misinforming the public about the real reasons why and how prohibited persons acquire firearms.

  • Mark May 17, 2020, 9:50 am

    Felon Joe: Hey Frank, I’ve got an idea…cars are legal, why not just steal one and run him over!!! This way we can still kill him and and say we believe in gun control.

  • Defending Father May 16, 2020, 12:05 am

    The Fed has no place making any gun law. US Guv get lost!

  • John May 15, 2020, 11:01 pm

    Serial numbers are just like CA wanting micro-stamping on firing pins. How are they going to make enough patterns on something the size of a firing pin? Like a serial number it can be removed.
    They just keep trying to show their idiot constituents that they are doing something to get votes and stay on the gravy train.
    There is a law against killing but it has never worked, what does adding a gun crime to the ultimate crime accomplish?

  • RR May 15, 2020, 9:50 pm

    Despite supposedly millions of kits to build your own AR, hardly any data can be provided by extensive and intrusive bureaucracies that these are inclined to be used in crimes. The US southern border, easily a source of illegal guns, remains a sieve, even if traffic is lower s while—thanks to the President. Yet, mosey apparatchiks Without enough meaningful work and in the spirit of tyrants everywhere, seek to further control innate freedoms of the free Americans they so deeply despise.

    • Jake May 16, 2020, 1:17 pm

      As far as I know, the only 80% receiver gun used in a crime was by that Communist terrorist who belonged to the Democrat militia Antifa. He was trying to ignite propane storage tanks at a government holding facility. He wanted to “help” illegal aliens by blowing them up. He was killed during his commission of the crime.

  • Steven Marley May 15, 2020, 9:45 pm

    “60 Minutes” usually doesn’t have a problem coming up with evidence. If they can’t find anything they just make up whatever fits their agenda.

  • TPAINSIMMERS May 15, 2020, 7:16 pm

    Not going to happen lizard man…

  • DaveGinOly May 15, 2020, 5:42 pm

    “There has been a tremendous proliferation of firearm sales generally, but most particularly for these types of untraceable weapons…”

    If these guns are “untraceable” how does he know this? Doesn’t the fact that they’re untraceable preclude him from having any such knowledge? But he can blither any damn nonsense he wants and there will still be people nodding their heads in agreement.

    “(These types of untraceable weapons) are clearly a means to evade the current federal laws.”

    Completely untrue. “Ghost guns” are not meant “to evade the current federal laws,” they’re made to AVOID the current federal laws. Legally, there’s a huge difference between “evade” and “avoid.” I should also note that even “avoid” would be inaccurate, because federal law was never meant to address “ghost guns.” Nobody needs to avoid laws that don’t apply, and nobody can evade laws that don’t exist. Federal laws don’t apply to private builds because they were expressly written in recognition of a citizen’s right to build a firearm for his personal use. Recall (if you ever knew) that even Prohibition, enabled by an amendment to the Constitution, only pertained to the commercial manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcohol. It did not pertain to the production of alcohol for personal consumption. Hence the “manufacturing” language in the proposed bill. This would keep it strictly constitutional (under the authority of the Commerce Clause), but would generate enough confusion as to intent to allow law enforcement to prosecute individuals (at least until such time a court ruled against said enforcement). The federal government has played this trick before. Don’t let them do it again.

    • Jake May 16, 2020, 1:20 pm

      Villanueva is a professional stupid person. Another moron who wants to protect criminals from Wuhan flu or “bat biter bronchitis” by releasing them from jail into the communities he is trying to disarm and make defenseless against them. Democrat of course.

  • Michael May 15, 2020, 4:30 pm

    The average guy, even those into guns is unlikely to build one from an 80% as few if anyone I have talked to was willing to do the work!
    I doubt any have ever been used in a crime as they cost more than buying a complete one off the shelf, and than YOU STILL HAVE TO BUILD IT!!
    Screw it up and it will cost you even more!

  • pete May 15, 2020, 4:15 pm

    Folks who build their own guns are clearly violating the spirit of the law, as well as the rules of good judgement

    • Jake May 16, 2020, 10:25 am

      If a citizen who can own a firearm wants to own a firearm that is his legal right to and he can build it or buy it. Just like I can choose to buy fish at the store or go fishing and catch it myself.
      Manufacturing a firearm is the same as manufacturing any other piece of machienery. If you stay within specifications it is safe. If you try and push a design or make a new design without knowing what you are doing it can be unsafe. Think of people who modify engines, some people tune a car very well, other people blow the engine up as soon as they test it.
      As far as spirit of the law goes… Any citizen in the us who is able to possess a firearm legally is legally allowed to manufacture a firearm. This comes with a few stipulations though. The finished product must meet certain criteria for be legal. Barrel length position of grips and stocks on a handgun, and not being a fully automatic are all things a builder is responsible for doing correctly to meet legal requirements as they build their firearm. If they make an illegal sign without the appropriaIte tax stamps they will be in trouble at the federal level.
      The firearm also has to be for personal use. I can make a firearm for me. I cannot make a firearm with the intention of selling it. That would put me in the business of manufacturing firearms and I would need a license for doing that. It is legal on the federal level to manufacture a firearm and sometime down the road decide to sell it to another citizen who can possess firearms, as long as you are obeying all federal and state laws.

    • D March 3, 2021, 5:28 pm

      Massive assumption

  • Chinch Bugg May 15, 2020, 3:54 pm

    Using the government’s most-favored methods of selective enforcement of laws, they will be able to imprison you for possession of an unregistered roll pin or spring. Is being STUPID a requirement to run for leftist political office?

    • Jake May 16, 2020, 1:23 pm

      Stupid isn’t as important as being evil and hating the Constitution and being a first class liar.

  • brian May 15, 2020, 3:12 pm

    Felon named Joe ” Hey Frank lets go kill that dipshit”

    Felon name Frank ” yeah he’s a huge asshole. Let’s go shoot him up”

    Felon named Joe ” Wait Frank. We can’t use a gun because we are felon. IT AGAINST THE LAW”

    Felon named Frank “Damn I guess we can’t murder this guy because it is against the law for us to own a gun”

    Felon named Joe “Frank I got an idea. Lets just steal a gun and kill dipshit anyway”

    Felon named Frank ” No Joe, we gotta follow the law. We aren’t allowed to have guns”

    Felon named Joe “How we gonna kill dipshit . This gun law is really screwing us over”

    Felon name Dipshit ” Wheeew. Thank god for gun laws”

  • Vlad Tepes May 15, 2020, 12:56 pm

    The Chicago study proved that guns used in crimes were on average 13 years old and had been through many hands and sold to people that were prohibited from evening owning a gun. This shows that second hand guns need to be vetted and ghost guns completely outlawed. States that have lax laws continue to funnel in tens of thousands of unvetted second hand guns into big cities like Chicago and New York where they end up in crime and homicides.

    • Rich Z. May 15, 2020, 5:19 pm

      Your first sentence is pretty close to being accurate.

      Your second sentence is a non sequitur in that it in no way follows from the statement about the study. It is a lie, in that the study shows no such thing.
      BTW, the things being called “ghost guns” are what the people in the original 13 colonies made in their workshops – if arms are manufactured by a citizen for their own use, no Federal laws apply, nor can they apply, since there is no possible “interstate commerce nexus”. The Second Amendment has something to say on the issue, too.

      Your third sentence is a flat-out lie on all counts. It’s one of the false claims from the professional anti-gun industry’s propaganda mill.

      • Vlad Tepes May 19, 2020, 10:33 am

        Wrong Rich Z as you are unwilling to admit the truth about ghost guns or second hand guns being a major source of weapons for lunatics and criminals. Again the Chicago Study and Police tracings in numerous states prove second hand guns and stolen guns are the major source of illegal weapons.

        • Pfunk March 23, 2022, 2:27 am

          I am just going to say this but we need to stop this idea of warehousing hard-core criminals OK every Jack off that BLM calls a poor poor black criminal and is really a cold-blooded animalistic slaughter infected diseased ape needs to be given the treatment that they would get at your local slaughterhouse they bring them to the top of the blood slide since the guy with the hydraulic kill thing presses the button the hydraulic metal kill rod flies out goes through the skull turning it into A dead criminal with a massive hole through both eyes not both eyes to both sides of his head and from now on the law should be it’s an it it’s not a person it’s a criminal just like in the war it’s a target it’s not a person I have acquired my target a shot it criminals are it’s they are not people

          Gun crime gun crime only happens when good guns are given to people such as antifa Black Lives Matter and people that would give them to people such as the communist American fascist groups that called them selves anti-fascist although they are as racist and viciously anti-white and anti-any American patriot of any color of any race as you could possibly get the worst racist we have today or not the KKK they’re gone the KKK barely exist there’s five skinheads and they’re all in Boon docks prison OK we gotta get ahead of this shit the only way you can liberals have caused us four years of nightmares Arsons murders cop killings Kyle Rittenhouse barely surviving a bunch of child rapist and wife beaters who desperately tried to kill him for the crime of trying to protect property in the American Midwestern state where you live what a criminal he was how terrible to let this person suffer to live no everyone of those bastards should’ve been brought to The top of this freaking slaughterhouse floor at the spot where the guy does the hydraulic kill switch and left a slide down the blood slide down to the bottom where is picked up and thrown into the incinerator policy for all pieces of shit communist rats and other anti-American garbage we treat them like we treat cattle on the kill floor

          One of the best ways to go down fast is on the kill floor so you don’t go telling me your way of putting men into the dirt is so much better than mine my way is a lot more efficient and a lot quicker and painless so I’m saying hydraulic kill switch hydraulic kill fucking rod no bullshit just right through the brain instantaneously you don’t even give them time to know what’s happening you can bring these fucking bastards in so fast and have them all dead before the next one knows what the fucks going on tell him they’re going to get some counseling and yeah they’ll get counseling while pushing up daisies have a good one the one thing we need less of in this country is backstabbing criminals and anti-American liberal fucks

    • Mauser6864 May 15, 2020, 5:19 pm

      The Majority of violent crime and murder is confined to very small areas of the country. The place names are always the same and so are the solutions. What is lacking is the will to act, using the laws on the books to put criminals away for long periods of time. The other thing that needs to change is the mentality of the communities that support these criminals either actively or passively. “The snitches, get stitches” mentality has to change as well. The reason there are no crack houses in nice neighborhoods, is that the residents refuse to tolerate them, period.

      Chicago, Baltimore, DC and South Central LA can be cleaned up, however the Demorats that run the place have no interest in doing the hard, thankless heavy lifting to fix these problems. This is evidence by their lack of plans to address these issues and effect change or 12 months, 12 years, etc.

      The reason California and New York and other areas of the country have a lot of “Ghost Gun” sales is because people are civilly disobeying the Un-Constitutional Gun laws on the books in those areas and/or desire to build a custom or unique firearm. California and New York both have a real record of taking firearms away from otherwise law abiding citizens and many citizens have decided it might be a good idea to have some firearms that the government doesn’t have a paperwork/registration record of.

    • Mike V May 15, 2020, 6:16 pm

      How does banning a home built gun have anything to do with second hand guns that have supposedly been traded around multiple times?

      “sold to people that were prohibited from evening owning a gun.”

      LOL, guess gun control doesn’t work…

  • Vlad Tepes May 15, 2020, 12:53 pm

    I agree with 60 minutes. Ghost guns should be banned and all firearms sales including second hand guns should be strictly vetted with back ground checks, mental tests , mandatory safe firearms training, mandatory course in State gun laws, safe storage mandatory law to prevent theft and 1,300 children from being slaughtered each year by loaded guns laying around the house. Every civilized nation on earth has had these necessary laws for decades and their lower homicide and accidental death rates are far lower.

    • James spence May 15, 2020, 3:18 pm

      I don’t think they should be band, it’s your right under the 2nd amendment. Why don’t they ban cell phones 14 kids under the age of 18 die everyday texting and driving, that’s 5110 deaths every year… I forgot you can’t band something YOU Use Everyday!!! And You Probably Text And Drive!!!!

    • Dogman May 15, 2020, 3:42 pm

      Yep, it’s always someone else’s fault.

    • Michael May 15, 2020, 5:05 pm

      Vlad Tepes: Before using YOUR 1st amendment, YOU should be Strictly vetted with a background check, mental tests, mandatory safe & sane speaking course in proper speech, and a course in the constitution to prevent you from saying stupid statements against the second amendment like that.
      I grew up with guns in every car (most were unlocked) with people carrying them all the time, people carried them everywhere, and crime was a rarity!
      Guns are not the problem, they are the answer, only too many of the political elite want us helpless and ready packaged as victims for their planned misbehavior!

    • Rich Z. May 15, 2020, 5:23 pm

      Boy, you rang every bell on the professional anti-gun industry bullet-point list of utter bullshit.

      It might interest you to find out that the U.S. is far down the list of countries when it comes to homicides by firearms.

      You really need to start reading something besides Michael Bloomberg’s ignorant, and false, anti-gun claims.

    • Found you May 15, 2020, 11:19 pm

      This is where you disappeared to vlad? Apparently its been far too long since ive visited this site, because you seem very confident and i notice no one has challenged you yet. Ive said it before, and ill say it again, the only thing that should be banned is you. You couldnt handle everyone slamming your draconian opinions elsewhere, and you wont find comfort for long here either. Go out and get some sunlight.

  • Easy Eddie May 15, 2020, 11:56 am

    (Sigh) They’ll be coming for our spud guns next.

  • Chris May 15, 2020, 11:24 am

    The government has no legal authority to decide who can have what type of gun nor where they can or how they can carry said gun.
    Also note: the second amendment doesn’t say “firearms” it says “arms” as in swords, bows and arrows, crossbows, knives, clubs, flails, for that matter a shoulder mount anti tank or aircraft missile is covered if you can bear it.
    “Shall not be infringed” says so.

  • Michael J May 15, 2020, 11:11 am

    If these so called ghost guns were so previlent in crimes, the left would have a field day, but they aren’t.
    Obviously the serial number only tells who legally bought, sold or reported stolen. But all firearms are essentially invisible unless they’re recovered from a crime scene. Criminals with stolen guns don’t care about no stinking serial numbers, only anti-second amendment policians and bureaucrats do.

  • Greg May 15, 2020, 10:42 am

    I’ve been saying for years I need to get my new company “79% lowers” rolling asap.

  • tomlightfield May 15, 2020, 10:41 am

    Yeah the Los Angeles county sheriff says there needs to be a ban, the sheriff of gang banger central!!!! What good is that gonna do with the bangers who have more weaponry than the cops already????!!!??

  • Clem May 15, 2020, 10:41 am

    Can Villy point out where it says in the constitution some people should never own a firearm?

    • Winston May 15, 2020, 12:07 pm

      The issue is the drive for total social control by the US Boston-NYC-DC Establishment: the same Establishment families and corporate entities who control both political parties, the natural resources and infrastructure assets of the country and the high courts.

  • South Carolina May 15, 2020, 10:31 am

    We have been building our own guns since we landed at Plymouth. Just because the technology has changed is NO reason for our God-given rights to be taken away or limited. 60 Minutes said that two “Ghost Guns” were used in mass shooting. I read an article that said there were an estimated 6,000,000 homemade guns in America. If true, thats 1/3,000,000th of a chance a homemade gun will be used in a mass shooting crime. They said “criminals were making these so as not to be traced”. Fact is, if they can’t have a gun, any gun, they can’t have the ammunition that goes in thier guns, which is a federal crime equal to them owning a Glock, homemade gun, Sig, etc.

    To the gentleman who said he would trade “Ghost Guns for Suppressors” without 4473, paperwork, etc.: NEVER, EVER make a deal with the devil (liberals)!!! Do you really think they would abide by ANY deal??? REALLY?!!! We have too many gun laws now, especially since number 2 of our constitution says “shall not be infringed”. It hasn’t been infringed, it’s been stomped to death!!!

    We need to fight this for all it’s worth! I have a good friend who is a Federal judge in this state. He made a statement in front of a number of us one night at a social gathering that was very disturbing. He said “The Federal Government can take away your rights for any reason, at any time”. Don’t believe that statement??? There are 9 catagories of people who cannot own a gun, and not all are felons. Those 9 catagories have no gun rights because the government has taken them “for reason”. Too many speeding tickets? Can’t trust you with a car, sure can’t trust you with a gun. The tickets would be the reason. Think people, THINK!!!

  • thomas May 15, 2020, 10:20 am

    Another pointless exercise in futility that will change nothing.

  • Mr. Sparkles May 15, 2020, 9:45 am

    untraceable weapons that essentially provide ‘crime guns’

    Where did the dingbat get that data from? Smells like he pulled it out of his arse.

  • Aspiring Plumber May 15, 2020, 9:45 am

    I assume this new bill, when it’s introduced and inevitably gets ignored by the senate (if it even makes it that far), won’t restrict the sale of metal pipes right? I’m too poor to print my guns and can only make do with what I can get from my local hardware store. :^)

    • Rich Z. May 15, 2020, 5:29 pm

      Remember that Carbine Williams is said to have invented the prototype for the M1 Carbine while in prison.

      It seems that anyone can make a sophisticated firearm using only hand tools. The Filipinos in WW 2, and the North VIetnamese in their wars against the French and the American forces, both amply proved that claim – a file is a powerful tool in the right hands.

  • Gregory Romeu May 15, 2020, 9:43 am

    Oh look! In the very same e-mail!

    Mexico’s President Says There’s Still Time for U.S. to Apologize for ‘Fast and Furious’

  • Steve h May 15, 2020, 9:30 am

    So how many of these ghost guns were used in crimes? Sounds like none so far.

    • Greg May 15, 2020, 10:37 am

      “The ATF does not know how many “ghost guns” are actually being used in crime, ”

      You are correct. The answer is likely none to nearly none. The ATF should know EXACTLY how many guns were home-built because every weapon they get from a crime scene is traced back to the manufacturer very easily. No serial number, then it was home-built.
      I could pick up the phone right now and call any major manufacturer and ask what month and year almost any gun was built, and they will be able to tell me. They will also be able to tell me if they built it. This “does not know” comment is likely made up by the media and is compete bullshit.

    • Bad Penguin May 15, 2020, 11:21 am

      My thoughts exactly. No one can seem to site even one crime committed with the thug using a home built gun. This is just a liberal sissified guy going on his feelings instead of using facts.

      I cant help but wonder how many guns he owns and how many gun totting guards he has.

  • Windwalker May 15, 2020, 9:30 am

    Slim stated he had a ccw by not being a felon. This may be a stretch, but has anyone considered this a form of gun control? I believe a felony conviction not involving a firearm should disqualify one from owning a legally purchased weapon. Just a thought. I believe deeply in 2A.

    • Altoids May 15, 2020, 10:10 am

      A felony conviction not involving a firearm DOES disqualify one from owning a firearm, any firearm.

      • Grady May 15, 2020, 12:32 pm

        Not according to the Constitution, and that law was not passed until the early 1900s anyway.

        • DaveGinOly May 15, 2020, 5:23 pm

          The Constitution says that rights can be abridged as punishment for crimes.

          From Amendment V:
          (No) person… (shall) be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…

          (“Due process” is recognized by SCOTUS to be the judicial process of indictment, trial, and verdict (usually a jury verdict, unless a bench trial is requested). An indictment requires evidence of a crime.)

          The “liberty” part covers wide territory, it doesn’t just mean you can be denied freedom of movement, (i.e., locked up), it can also mean you’re not at “liberty” to possess a firearm or vote.

    • Tyrone L Greene May 15, 2020, 10:25 am

      Shouldn’t that read: “I believe a felony conviction not involving a firearm should [NOT] disqualify one from owning a legally purchased weapon.”? Please correct it so people are not confused….

    • Rich Z. May 15, 2020, 5:36 pm

      Until the 1968 GCA, there was no Federal prohibition on ex-felons possessing firearms. Likewise, many states also considered the RKBA a right that did not disappear just because you were an ex-felon – you still had the right to self defense and the right to hunt to feed yourself and your family.

      There have been moves in recent years to restore 2nd Amendment rights to certain ex-felons, primarily at the state level. The rabid anti-gun forces are fighting this movement tooth and nail at the Federal level.

  • Sal May 15, 2020, 9:26 am

    I guess the government should make 3D printers illegal next. Any object a human mind can dream up can be created with one. Including LOWERS. It’s interesting how there are fewer deaths over the last 2 months from anything other than COVID 19. Guns aren’t even killing people anymore.

  • john in DFW May 15, 2020, 9:10 am

    bad guy: got 2 choices, get a grinder and grind the serial number off this gun …. or.. buy a kit, tools, research all the parts, procure all the parts , learn to put them together. fit finish and test. hum….. i’ll go with option 1 grind serial number off!

    the end.

    • SuperG May 15, 2020, 9:58 am

      You are right, and there is also the third option open to the sociopath criminal…Not caring if their gun is traced or not.

  • Nicefish May 15, 2020, 9:08 am

    I think banning unserialized “ghost guns” would be a tragedy, but banning serialized lowers doesn’t make any sense on any level (?). Granted, the leftists want to ban EVERY firearm, but what is the practical difference between a manufacturer’s serialized gun and a serialized lower? Both are essentially “registered” when one buys them new? I have a serialized Glock lower and had go through the background check etc. – even though the lower itself is less of a weapon than a fist sized rock.

    • PB- dave May 18, 2020, 8:53 am

      You don’t need to ban “unserialized” ghost guns…. because they are already illegal. You are fully in your right to build your own gun, however if that 80% is finished it needs to have a permanently identifying mark (serial #). If it doesn’t, it’s illegal. No need for new laws, just enforce old ones.

      • Padraig C May 18, 2020, 2:54 pm

        Negative, ghost rider. After building a “ghost gun,” one does not require a serial number unless your state requires it or you need to register it. You may not sell an unserialized gun or transfer said gun to another. If you do transfer, the gun must have a serial number and you must follow the rules to transfer gun (ensuring the transferee is legally allowed, etc.). You may not take compensation for the gun, since that would make you a firearms manufacturer and dealer. ATF has published these rules and I am going from memory, so some of this may be a little distorted, but the serial number is not mandatory unless you live in the Communist Republic of California.

  • Clint W. May 15, 2020, 8:57 am

    I know democraps never use facts and figures to support their claims, just emotional hand wringing and weeping, but, show me the nationwide statistics that crimes are being committed using ghost guns, and ghost guns have spurned an increase in that crime. Please don’t confuse weapons that had their SN’s ground off.

  • Dave May 15, 2020, 8:15 am

    Why would thugs and gangbangers go to all the trouble and expense of tooling up to make a “ghost” gun when there’s a sea of stolen weapons out there that are already made, work reliably, and are cheap and easy to get? I’ve built a couple of AKs from kits, and it’s no easy feat. A methhead with a hand drill and an 80% lower isn’t going to turn out a battle-ready AR15 or a Glock that doesn’t suffer from SUDS (Sudden Unexpected Disassembly Syndrome). Heck, the AR-building guys constantly belittle the quality of 100% lowers from Palmetto State and Anderson (“Just as Gud”), and those lowers come out of high-dollar CNC machines. Do the reporters and politicians really think that career-criminals with no training or skills are going to surpass that?

    I don’t think these idiotic reporters understand that an “80%” gun doesn’t mean the “criminal” gets 80% of a working gun delivered to their door by UPS. I looked into doing an 80% Glock once, until I realized that the 80% part was just the frame, and once I’d properly boogered that up with my drill press, I then had to spend another $300+ to buy a Glock slide. And still no guarantee it wouldn’t disassemble in my hand and take a few fingers with it. Hard pass on that one, thanks.

  • srsquidizen May 15, 2020, 8:06 am

    Another idiotic bill aimed at legal gun owners that is not even about the real “ghost guns” that DO go directly to criminals and NEED to be taken off the streets. That would be the illegal smuggled-in ghost guns, made not by individuals but in off-the-radar factories hidden in jungles south of the border, factories producing guns of dubious quality but still deadly, factories that are tolerated by corrupt governments through bribes, and then the guns are smuggled into this country illegally by illegal people who shouldn’t be here in the first place.

    THOSE are the “ghost guns” that need to be stopped, NOT perfectly legal custom-builts that are in the hands of law-abiding hobbyists and do no harm to anybody.

    We should start by DOUBLING the jail time for felons in possession of a firearm IF the gun is a smuggled-in “ghost gun” rather than legally made in the USA or legally imported through licensed distributors.

  • Booner 21 May 15, 2020, 7:58 am

    Only criminals don’t obey the law! Until our country turns Communist one stupid law at a time! Our founding fathers would be ashamed of what our country is becoming! I’ll bet they all built a gun or 10!

  • Earl Haehl May 15, 2020, 7:56 am

    One of the causes if the Causes of the American Revolution abs War for Independence was a prohibition on manufactures. My German Anabaptist ancestors in Lancaster county are noted for their agricultural prowess but they also manufactured a lot of what they needed. A single craftsman with a lathe a tape measure and calipers can build a receiver from recycled aluminum. Do we ban, lathes, drill presses, calipers, dividers, mill files and aluminum cans.

    Mr Blumenthal is a lotus eater and knows nothing of tool use.
    Our victory in World War II had as much to do with our manufacturing capability and our tool using GIs as it did any single weapon.

    • David H Powell May 15, 2020, 9:02 am

      You will never disarm us! The war you won’t believe is on your doorstep! Keep pushing gun grabbers!

    • Aspiring Plumber May 15, 2020, 9:54 am

      Huh, my grandma and one of my aunts families live in Lancaster. They never told me how skilled the farmers there are, I would’ve started growing corn instead of plumbing. Making an AR from aluminum makes me ashamed at being proud of my pipe rifles. :^)

    • SuperG May 15, 2020, 10:02 am

      Unless federal law has changed, it is perfectly legal to make your own “unserialized” gun for your own use. It is when you try to sell it do you run afoul of the law.

    • Bad Penguin May 15, 2020, 11:25 am

      Correction Mr Blumenthal is a Tool

  • krinkov545 May 15, 2020, 7:43 am

    Enjoy the flames little dickie!!

  • Steven May 15, 2020, 7:28 am

    Ghost guns won the revolutionary war! That is why the 2nd amendment exists.

  • Kurt Hollyday May 15, 2020, 7:25 am

    Nobody picked up on what’s really going on? Criminals tend to have firearms that “had” serial #s, until the #s were obliterated. So once again these stupid F#CKING liberals jump to conclusions and take the easy way out. Of course the easy way out is going after 80% dealers / manufacturers and people that buy and use them legally.
    This is coming from the state that LETS CRIMINALS OUT OF PRISON, LOCKS UP PEOPLE FOR WANTING TO WORK SO THEY CAN PAY THEIR 13% INCOME TAX TO GOVERNOR NEWSOME, PUT BUMS UP TO LIVE IN HOTELS, DELIVERS THEM BOOZE AND DRUGS WITH TAXPAYER $, AND ALWAYS MAKE THE LAW ABIDING CITIZENS PAY THE PRICE FOR THE CRIMINALS!!!
    FUCK THEM ALL!! THEY WILL START A WAR THEY CAN’T WIN. MOLON LABE FOOLS.
    People will only be pushed so far.

    • kimjberpross May 15, 2020, 9:43 am

      I have never understood the whole serial number debate anyway, from a crime management view. So someone uses a firearm to commit a crime and the police have the weapon and the serial number. So now they can trace it back to the original purchaser. Having that serial number didn’t prevent anything. The FBI will tell us that the majority of the firearms used in crime are stolen. As the argument having a CCW, the police are really there to investigate not to prevent. All it really does is further victimize the lawful citizen, giving the COP’s the chance to meddle in their lives. I wonder how many crimes have been solved by having a firearm serial number?

    • Gunny8541 May 15, 2020, 10:50 am

      I feel I’ve been pushed too far. I’ve fought for this country 4 times in Iraq. I’ve been highly trained and the government keeps shitting on us. I’m tired of these damn gun grabbers. I’m tired of all these asshole democrats. I’m now ready to show them how trained I really am. I’m ready to show them how my firearms with serial numbers, really work. I know I’m not the only American that feels this pissed off and frustrated. I know we as Americans will take back this country.

  • Eugene Whitley May 15, 2020, 6:30 am

    Where/how can I get a “ghost gun”?
    Thank you for any info.

    • Tim May 15, 2020, 9:57 am

      Check you local gun cemetery at night. You might spot one or two. If that doesn’t work google might help. :^)

    • Sanders May 15, 2020, 10:48 am

      Whistle past a graveyard. One will follow you home.

    • Pfunk March 23, 2022, 2:58 am

      Yeah we used to go into the city for only one reason after there was a good gang war when my brother was a swat team member we could keep anything unless it had a body on it apparently these losers assumed they hit more then because a lot of the guns came up clean so we’d be like great new Smith & Wesson no name on it just put it in our name because there was nothing there it was fun to put on a freaking big 200 pound magnet and go fishing for handguns

      I caught more than one Tech N9ne back in the day what a piece of shit but I did get them!!
      I still don’t know how that asshole shot up the school over in Columbine I think it was called and the asshole didn’t have one misfire or jam the ones we had we worked on cleaned up did everything in our power to make function and they were just worthless pieces of shit that made you look like a freaking bad ass sure you look bad as hell until you’re done jam on the second round in a shitty ass 9 mm caliber man what a piece of garbage the Tech N9ne was what is the show you how smart gangbangers are

  • Chick May 15, 2020, 6:17 am

    Oh well. Next?

    • Law Abiding May 15, 2020, 9:03 am

      Better bring yours if you’re gonna take mine

      • perlcat May 15, 2020, 10:48 am

        “Better bring yours…” (counts magazines, multiplies by capacity.) May want to bring at least 300 friends as well.

  • gunbob May 15, 2020, 5:49 am

    I could care less about ghost guns, gun kits, unfinished lowers etc. So… lets make a deal. I’ll trade ghost guns to the dems for totally legal suppressors. Walk in, buy suppressor, no restrictions at all, no license no tax no ATF. I as of now don’t do suppressors because I am not paying 200 and waiting a yr, what a total load of BS. But i would totally jump in and use them if they because completely and totally legal.

    • John Adams May 15, 2020, 7:16 am

      “At first they came for ‘ghost guns,’ but I did not care because I did not own one…”

      Good plan there buddy. May wanna take a look at history before the whole country ends up like California.

    • Thomas Jefferson May 15, 2020, 7:20 am

      gunbob,

      ” And I could care less about you, your ignorant comments, idiotic line of thinking etc. So… lets make a deal. I’ll trade YOU to the dems for totally legal suppressors. Walk in, buy suppressor, no restrictions at all, no license no tax no ATF.”
      Your BS attitude is why we are in the situation we presently find ourselves. YOU SHOULD CARE about ANY INFRINGEMENT on the 2nd Amendment. Please go back to Kindergarten and start over. Apparently you missed some vital instruction along the way.

    • Mike V May 15, 2020, 9:12 am

      You’re a horrible negotiator. Trade the ability to make 100% functional modern weapons without the government knowing…..for an accessory.

    • kimberpross May 15, 2020, 9:49 am

      I believe it was Hitler that said take away liberty in tiny bits over a long period. The citizens will not fight losing a little here and a little there claiming it really doesn’t effect them. DO this for a long period and the government will have a lot of there liberty and by the time the citizen realize it, it will be too late for them to get them back. That is exactly what is happening with the 1st and 2nd amendments right now. Stand fast and fight it at the polls. Trump was disappointing when he agree to ban bump stocks, a case in point.

  • Tj May 15, 2020, 4:49 am

    Don’t they know that the only thing a ghost gun is good for, Killing ghosts using the reloadable ghost bullets.

    What a bunch of asshats

  • Rich K. May 15, 2020, 4:32 am

    Real patriots like their guns the way liberals like their immigrants: undocumented.

    • Decarius May 15, 2020, 7:45 am

      Amen

    • Chris May 15, 2020, 11:22 am

      Ditto the Amen! The government has no legal authority to decide who can have what type of gun nor where they can or how they can carry said gun.
      Also note: the second amendment doesn’t say “firearms” it says “arms” as in swords, bows and arrows, crossbows, knives, clubs, flails, for that matter a shoulder mount anti tank or aircraft missile is covered if you can bear it.
      “Shall not be infringed” says so.

  • Slim May 15, 2020, 4:31 am

    This is the SAME B.S. they’ve been trying to say and do for years and with this plague they might get things slid under the rug and get it passed. Funny they say only criminals or how ever it was worded are the only people who buy them and we are not hobbyist. Well, I’m a licensed by my state to legally carry concealed meaning I’m for sure not a felon and for sure also love to tinker with things and guns ARE MY HOBBY\LIFE! I love building AR’s in all calibers and sizes, as well as GLOCKS both from OEM frames and a polymer 80 G17 I built for myself as well as AR lowers from licensed manufacturers and my own milled 80% lower using a Easy Jig Gen 2. And worst part is cops don’t even know there exist as I just a month or so back had a neighbor threaten my life and he was met with let’s just say extreme force and when cops arrived I had to explain the laws to them on 80% guns and then they had to call a superior who also clearly had no clue that is bet searched Google for the answer which was there legal for anyone to make for themselves only. If your allowed to posses a serialized gun, then your legal to make your own! In the end I was handed back my rifle and pistol and my meth selling neighbors are now being watched.

    • FAL Phil May 15, 2020, 6:25 am

      You did not really expect them not to lie in order to advance their agenda, did you?

    • Gregory Romeu May 15, 2020, 9:37 am

      “” to “bring national attention to the alarming rise in the use of dangerous, untraceable do-it-yourself weapons.”

      Yeah? And how did that work out for the Fast and Furious crowd created by the Obama administration, it’s ATF and Attorney General Holder?

      • Chad May 15, 2020, 10:02 am

        Have Obama and/or Holder apologized to Mexico about that yet? I hear the Mexican president asking for one.

  • Derp May 15, 2020, 4:19 am

    F these fascists.

  • mikeb May 15, 2020, 3:00 am

    I would differ with the sheriff. The average street thug has neither the intelligence nor the ability to assemble a gun kit. If they do have a “ghost gun” they probably stole it.

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