Ghost Story: Watch Police, Press and Antis Zero on Gun Used in School Shooting

Ghost Story: Watch Police, Press and Antis Zero on Gun Used in School Shooting
Ghost Story: Watch Police, Press and Antis Zero on Gun Used in School Shooting

U.S.A.-(Ammoland.com)- Press reports emerging in the aftermath of the tragic Saugus High School shooting in Santa Clarita, CA provide a strong signal about where the next “big push” by gun prohibitionists will be focused: so-called “ghost guns” like the pistol reportedly used by the teen killer who took his own life with the last shot fired.

The Hill is among news agencies reporting that California investigators determined that the pistol used by the 16-year-old shooter was “an unregistered ‘ghost gun’” that had no serial number, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva.

“Ghost guns, also known as ‘kit guns,’ can be purchased online or at gun shows,” The Hill noted. “They do not have serial numbers, nor are they registered.”

Expect gun control lobbying groups and their allies on Capitol Hill to start a new push for mandatory registration, and a ban on “ghost guns.”

The Los Angeles Times is also repeating the terms in its reporting.

“The gun used in last week’s shooting at Saugus High School was assembled from parts, a so-called ghost gun without a registration number, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva confirmed Thursday,” the newspaper reported.

“Registration number?” That term, of course, refers to the serial number on a modern firearm. But not all guns in private ownership have such numbers because they were not engraved on many guns built during the first half of the 20th Century.

“The teenager who shot five classmates, killing two, at a Southern California high school used an unregistered ‘ghost gun,’” the Associated Press also reported.

The .45-caliber Model 1911-type pistol apparently was a “parts gun” built around what is commonly referred to as an “80 percent gun” because the frame, which contains the firing controls, was purchased as an unfinished component. Unfinished frames, or receivers, are more commonly associated with AR15-type semiautomatic rifles.

But the Seattle P-I.com is reporting that anti-gun Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who has sued the Trump administration 51 times over the past 3 ½ years, just obtained a summary judgement in federal court against a Texas company that had published data on the internet about how to construct a 3-D printed gun. The story said this: “A Texas anarchist and gun rights advocate, Cody Wilson, has made it a crusade to publish blueprints.” Wilson is no longer associated with the company, Defense Distributed.

Defense Distributed’s blueprint for a “downloadable gun” referred to a single-shot pistol dubbed The Liberator, which was the name also given to a single-shot .45-caliber pistol dropped by the Allies to resistance fighters in Europe during WWII.

This newer model has also been called a “ghost gun.” The term has become part of the gun control lexicon, and its repeated use by news agencies following the Santa Clarita shooting can be exploited by anti-gunners looking for another campaign issue.

In its Friday report, The Hill stated, “authorities found another unregistered kit gun at (the killer’s) home when they searched it following the shooting. His father, now deceased, had six guns registered to him, Villanueva said, adding that they had been lawfully removed from the home and subsequently destroyed at an earlier point.” The deceased killer’s father, also deceased, had been disarmed by court order in relation to a custody battle about three years ago. The father died in 2017.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s office could not say who purchased components for the murder weapon, or who assembled it, The Hill noted.

According to the Associated Press account, the teen murderer apparently had some familiarity with the pistol, because it apparently jammed at one point during his shooting spree, and he “quickly cleared it and continued shooting.”

Press reports all agree that so far, investigators have been unable to determine a motive for the high school shooting. The teen “had shown no signs of violence and didn’t appear to be linked to any ideology or terrorist group,” the news agency reported.

The signals are as visible as neon billboards when one reads the news coverage.

In an interview with KABC News, Sheriff Villanueva asserted about “80 percent” guns that, “You get the initial 20 percent, and they’re sold as a kit, and you can legally buy it, assemble the weapon yourself and you have a gun that is not registered and no one knows that you have it.”

And that could become the gun control campaign message. In its reporting, the Los Angeles Times quoted regional ATF spokeswoman Ginger Colburn, who asserted, “About a third of all firearms seized in Southern California now are unserialized, and that is expected to grow.”

The story continued, “Those with lengthy criminal histories usually buy their weapons on the black market, according to law enforcement officials. In one raid last year, authorities recovered 45 ghost guns following a six-month undercover operation in Hollywood. In that case, some of the weapons, which police said were made by a gang, were assault weapons.

“Such weapons often come in kits and can be acquired at gun shows or by mail,” the newspaper added. “As one expert described it, the guns are as easy to assemble as Ikea furniture. A pistol consists of a frame, which includes the trigger housing that may need some tabs shaved off and several holes drilled before it can accept the barrel and action and then fire…(The assembled product) is a finished gun with no serial numbers and therefore avoids background checks and waiting periods.”

Gun prohibitionists will seize on such language and use it to raise funds and rouse the anti-gun grassroots to demand that “something” be done to prohibit such firearms.

As in the past, since the legal system has nobody to prosecute—at least so far—for the Saugus shooting, it will be California’s law-abiding gun owners, and then home gunsmiths nationwide, who would ultimately be targeted by legislation to prohibit gun assembly kits, which could include everything from building a semi-auto to assembling a traditional muzzleloading rifle or pistol, for which kits have been available for many years.

But it will provide yet another demon for the gun control lobby to attack.


About Dave Workman

Dave Workman

Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.

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JPM

It’s been so long since the leftist loonies misapplied the term, “Assault Weapon” that they were obviously in need of a new misnomer, so Voila’ now we have “Ghost Gun” as the new buzz word in their, and the media’s, repertoire to use in their ongoing campaign of misinformation and propaganda.

Boris Badenov

“Ghost Gun” has been around for quite a while, in Kommieforniastan we had a state legislator, Kevin deLeon, that used it to try to scare the uninformed idiots with the term. He also came up the the Clip-a-Zine, he tried to sound smart but failed miserably.

Laddyboy

HEY NAZIS; How about going after the individuals who ARE BREAKING the LAWS of the LAND. These include, POLITICIANS, POLICE, THUGS, GANG MEMBERS, KILLERS (whether government or gang) and those who AS the FOUNDERS of America stated are; “”WANTON” to harm others”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So far, IT HAS BEEN SHOWN and PROVEN that the OVER 25,000 INFRINGEMENT ANTI-Second Amendment (under the color of) law, has done NOTHING to STOP a WANTON KILLER of other innocent People.

tetejaun

Business people are easy prey and they do not fight back.
THAT is why cops go after them, NOT real criminals.
Remember when Phoenix was the kidnapping capital of the U.S.? The FBI stayed away. Local Sheriff’s offices slowed it down.
After all, the FBI frat boys don’t like people that fight back.

Littlejohn1411

Am I reading this right? In an interview with KABC News, Sheriff Villanueva asserted about “80 percent” guns that, “You get the initial 20 percent, and they’re sold as a kit, and you can legally buy it, assemble the weapon yourself and you have a gun that is not registered and no one knows that you have it.” A Sheriff, that carries a firearm, thinks that you only get 20% of an 80% receiver? I wouldn’t expect the fake news to know a dang thing about firearms but a police officer should know more than the average anti, at least… Read more »

Heed the Call-up

From my experience, most don’t, because most only know how to pull the trigger on their issued firearm, and they only do that once or twice per year to qualify. There are a small percentage of LEOs that actually are firearm owners and do regularly shoot and/or hunt. Unfortunately the rest probably would have difficulty explaining the difference between a .45 revolver and a .45 1911.

Tionico

Not so much these days. Their training might include some range time, but in general coppers are rotten shots. FBI stats show some 80% of rounds fired in FBI involved shootouts MISS ENTIRELY. That means, if a round grazes a bad guy’s shoulder and does no real harm, it is still a hit.
Most of their training now involves things like counselling, anger management, emotional/psychological manipulation, drug field tests, conflict resolution, lethal force continuum, how to use all their cool toys… very little about the law……

nrringlee

Of course, one could go all the way back to the conviction of former Sen Leland Yee, (D) SF and hit little gun running operation with the Tang Gang of SF. Or go back to the many raids by US Customs at container ports where entire crates of AK’s and finihsed 1911’s are shipped in to the country by drug gangs. Port of Stockton, Port of Oakland and don’t forget Long Beach. All are hot spots. But forget about that. Focus on the hobby collector, the competitive shooter, the hunter, the self defense advocate and those of us who have… Read more »

Considerthis

Dave Workman, It is really great that you read and will respond to comments.
Too bad that all the authors here are not so engaged. You and Codrea seem to be the only ones ( for you David ) brave enough !

Wild Bill

@Consider, Dean Weingarten responds, too.

Knute

But not Harold… no matter how direct the question. How very much like the antis. I don’t know him… but if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck……

Tionico

I remember your piece on that dirtbag Lee. I still reference that “fine upstanding legislator” when the context warrants it. If memory serves aright, Camelnose Harris the Horizontal was AtG at the time. I also distinctly remember his sentence was extremely light, considering what he had been doing. I think any “normal” (read: not grafted in at the hip to the political machine in that SHole state) citizen would be locked up for life, the max for each firearm involved being levied upon him as sentence. I do not recall ever reading about how hard his pals/partners got whacked, either.… Read more »

Considerthis

I remember when Bill Clinton was president, a nightly news report showed the Chinese Ambassador and a group of Chinese Diplomats at the White house for meetings when the story broke that customs had seized a container ship loaded with AK’s. The Chinese ran to get away from the cameras and covered their faces. At the time it was rumored that the AK’s were full auto and were to be dispersed to the Drug Gangs. The Clinton’s seemed to employ a tactic of solving problems by making them worse. If a problem appeared worse than it really was, it was… Read more »

Darkman

For Your Review: Makes one wonder about the sources of Illegal Guns in Commiefornia. Ex-San Diego sheriff’s captain arrested in gun sales National News by: JULIE WATSON and STEFANIE DAZIO, Associated Press Posted: Nov 22, 2019 / 06:50 PM CST / Updated: Nov 22, 2019 / 06:50 PM CST First Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Mazza, right, speaks during a news conference Friday, Nov. 22, 2019, in San Diego. Federal agents have arrested former San Diego County Sheriff’s Captain Marco Garmo under charges of operating an illegal firearms trafficking business. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull) SAN DIEGO (AP) — Federal agents on Friday… Read more »

Darkman

You are welcome. I often find articles that should be posted to this and other firearms websites. Many times article space is wasted. Just to get clicks and arguments. Rather than for informational purposes showing the hypocrisy of the Anti 2A movement.

Vanns40

“In February, a former Pasadena police lieutenant was sentenced to more than a year in federal prison for illegally selling more than 100 guns.”

Seriously? “…….more than a year….” for 100 guns? Well hell, I suppose if I sold just a couple of machine guns I’d just be offered a job with ATF? And we wonder why criminals don’t fear the system?

Dr. Smith

Oh, great. Another “loophole” that needs closing, like the old favorite: the “gun show loophole” that doesn’t exist, but is still being promoted: Last Tuesday night on the CBS TV show “FBI” a the head agent is told, “looks like (the suspect) bought a gun at a gun show.” and had these words put in his mouth by a gun-hating writer: “right, to avoid background checks.” Which, as you all know, is not where criminals get their guns. But then, facts don’t matter to the Left, aka American communists, bent on the destruction of America.

BigJim

Read more: https://www.ammoland.com/2019/11/2-gardena-police-officers-convicted-of-operating-unlicensed-firearms-business/#ixzz666z2UlIz
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
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Isn’t this why the founders wrote “shall not be infringed” because it was easy for everyone to understand. More laws=more problems

Darren

Good thing the government has cops to use to enforce gun control (sarcasm). When will conservatives learn what many of the Founders knew. A government with standing forces at its disposal will oppress us. We need gun control but applied to the government. Disarm them before they disarm us.

Courageous Lion - Hear Me Roar - Jus Meum Tuebor

A T-shirt I wear says on the front…Guns don’t kill people, Governments do. We need to disarm the psychopaths in government of their nuclear weapons on down to their daggers.

During the 20th century, governments killed 100 million men, women & children in the name of communism.

Knute

On that subject, another great read is:
https://www.amazon.com/George-Bush-Webster-Griffin-Tarpley/dp/0930852923
And its not even an out print collectors item! Tons of info, all the way back to Prescott Bush, Averill Harriman and the Union Banking Corporation, and their funding of Hitler from 1933 on. All this can be yours for a mere 16.99. Now what would you pay???
🙂

Green Mtn. Boy

Best news I’ve heard this week.

Wild Bill

@GMB, Yep, that is better than having the wife say, ” I cleaned the barn while you were gone.”

MICHAEL J

The only time anyone knows about a gun is when it’s used in a crime, registered or not. Nevermind this sick punk killed fellow students, the big news was that he didn’t kill them with a legal gun? So to be clear, these morons don’t care about all the other gun laws that failed. Serial numbers or not, they will never be able to stop a nut with a gun. They’ll just add some more useless laws and wait for the next shooting.

Courageous Lion - Hear Me Roar - Jus Meum Tuebor

“They” may jump in and make a DECREE (not a law, even though they will call it one) against the ability to obtain the 80% finished blanks, but there are so many already out there that it is unimaginable how they will be able to “register” them. They will just be put away for a rainy day (or should I say for a bloody day) in the future when the people finally have enough of their CRAP and rise up and butcher all of these tyrants with gunfire. BTW…it can’t be a “LAW” if it violates the 2nd amendment. PERIOD.… Read more »

Littlejohn1411

@OV I’m pretty you guys already know about this because it’s a couple years old but in case some don’t I’ll put it out there.
Last week I was watching some YouTube videos and watched one on this politician that wants to ban Muzzleloaders, of course he clearly didn’t know what the heck he was talking about. His reasoning was that they shoot 50 caliber ammunition. Tucker Carlson was doing the interview, it’s hilarious.

tetejaun

The federal government has used Article 1, Section 8 “The Commerce Clause” to claim it has control over every item created, sold and every penny earned from said manufacture and trade in every state in the Union. THAT IS A LIE! The federal government, in a power grab, has laid claim to EVERYONE and EVERYTHING in the United States. If you take a dump, the government claims it may control, regulate and tax the toilet, water and toilet paper you use. There is NO ‘secure free state” when THAT happens. THAT is tyranny, plain & simple. In Wyoming, we had… Read more »

tomcat

First, it is Federal law to have the firing portion of the gun pass through an FFL, even if it is a “ghost gun”. This is what I have been saying all along that they will never get all of the guns in America. Even with all the laws that commiefornia stacks on top of each other none of them is smart enough to come up with something that will put them in total control. They are just spinning their wheels and being insane by trying the same thing over and over.

Ryben Flynn

You are wrong. An unfinished receiver or frame is not regulated by the ATF. as the firing mechanism cannot be installed until the area that contains the parts is milled and drilled to accept the parts.There is even a controversy over whether the AR15 lower receiver is even legally a firearm, serial number or not. “Nicolaysen argued that the definition of a receiver under the relevant federal code differed in various ways from the AR-15 component Roh was accused of manufacturing. Under the US Code of Federal Regulations, a firearm frame or receiver is defined as: “That part of a… Read more »

tetejaun

I understand Roh was let go and charges dropped.
Too bad the few Americans in California did not come to Roh’s aid as our Founding Fathers did in the founding of our country.
Cowardice is an epidemic.

tomcat

@ Ryben Flynn You are assuming that I am talking about a piece of aluminum and not a drilled and machined lower.

Boris Badenov

Ahhhhh, wrong answer, I suggest you learn something about the law. 80% receivers do not go through a FFL nor, under FEDERAL LAW, do they have to be registered upon completion. NOR do you have to go through a FFL for triggers, BCG’s or any other related part tor a firearm, with the exception of a completed receiver. A few states are trying to usurp Federal Law, which are the ONLY law(s) we have to follow regarding firearms and even most of them are Unconstitutional. The Right To Keep and Bear Arms SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED. Period, end of discussion.

Chuck

Most of those guns are probably factory weapons that have been scrubbed of any identification marks

Tionico

“scrubbing” the serial numbers is ALWAYS obvious.Any production firearm has its usual place where the SN is stamped. To get deep enough to make the numbers invisible to the naked eye, one must remove enough metal its loss will be readily apparent to anyonewho knows anything about guns. The uffishuls who “inspected” that handgun would instantly have known had the number been removed somehow. Even then, there are metalurgy tests where certain acids can be applied to the area where the AN should be, then funny tricks played with light to “read” how the metal has been crunched, displaced, compressed,… Read more »

tetejaun

The density of the metal under the serial numbers is changed (compressed, so more dense) by the impression of the serial number. Acid will raise those areas revealing the serial number. With an engraved SN, all bets are off.

Deplorable Bill

I still don’t understand why they confiscated the guns at the house. Don’t they belong to the mother if not outright then by default? They already have the murder weapon. Ghost guns exist because of government overreach. The government comes up with treasonous laws contrary to the constitution, the bill of rights and the amendments and all of these being based on sound Judeo/Christian law, principals, mandates etc. and in so doing a market for unregistered firearms is bourn. Seems to me that most politicians forget just why and how we became a nation in the first place; it started… Read more »

Whormd

I keep mine hidden next to the elf on a shelf!

SGT_Wombat

With their confusion over 80% and 20% are they certain it was a parts/kit gun and not a pre 1968 weapon with no serial #?

Courageous Lion - Hear Me Roar - Jus Meum Tuebor

I suspect most “ghost guns” being produced right now are so that folks can circumvent the coming confiscation and by also surprising “them” with firearms that don’t exist being used to butcher tyrants.

JW

The gun grabbers, and especially the media, use fear mongering as a tactic. They try to portray anyone who owns a gun as miscreant or some kind of monsters. The sad part is, that naïve young people who have never even seen a firearm buy into this narrative.

Wild Bill

@OV, I feel just awful about being glad about the demise of RBG, but her drive to negate the Constitution, enslave her fellow countrymen, and stubborn clinging to power must stop. Whiskey for my men and beer for the horses!!!

Wild Bill

Damn!

Wild Bill

@OV, The good die young so that they may not be corrupted, but the wicked live long so that they might repent.

Courageous Lion - Hear Me Roar - Jus Meum Tuebor

I have decide that I’m all for gun control. I think EVERYONE including the military and police should be disarmed. Being that I’m 6’4″ 255 pounds and a martial artist with black belts in two style of martial arts, I am then going to arm up with a sword and begin my reign of terror. I will begin by raping all the women in the area I live so that many men of large size and stature will be born to them. I will become a tribal chieftain with men who think like me riding at my side robbing, raping… Read more »

Courageous Lion - Hear Me Roar - Jus Meum Tuebor

So called “Ghost Guns” are the end of gun control! I bet MILLIONS of them are being made right while I’m writing this. MILLIONS! Good luck controlling THAT control freaks!

Wild Bill

That is most humorous!

Rotts

My man, Sam, being an OTR trucker, was in CA waiting for is appt time. In the meantime, was ordering a firearm from an online shop to be delivered to our house in PA. He struck up a conversation with the man at the guard shack who proceeded to tell Sam that he gets his guns from a friend of his who rubs off the serial numbers first. Sam calls the FBI to fill them in on this info, but the FBI was more concerned as to why Sam was buying guns when he was in CA. No interest at… Read more »

Dr. Strangelove

Rotts: Anyone who has purchased a gun knows what BS you’re trying to pass off here. Peddle that drek over at the Huffingluepost.

Vanns40

Unless you’re an FFL would you like to admit to outright lying now, or just have us keep on drubbing you every time you write something?

Tionico

no gun purchased online can be delivered to you house, unless you left out a critical detail, that someone there has an FFL. It MUST be delivered to an FFL in YOUR state.

We aren’t fooled by your tale. Wanna refine your fiction skills a touch?

Link

Care to explain how the feds knew Sam was buying guns???
Oops.
Try getting a better script next time.

RoyD

Perhaps you should read the post again and use that head of yours for something else besides a hat rack. It might require some thinking so prepare yourself.