Ghost Guns Become Anti-Gun Activists New Target Following California High School Shooting

In the two plus weeks that have passed since the shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, CA, newspapers and media stories have given us a solid clue as to where gun-control zealots will likely make their next big push. Nearly every single press report focused on the so-called “ghost guns” used by the 16-year-old shooter in Santa Clarita that he used to kill two of his classmates and himself.

Nathaniel Tennosuke Berhow used a 45-caliber semi-automatic handgun that no Universal registration could have prevented, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva told KABC-TV.

He told reporters, “They’re also known as an 80 percent gun, so 80 percent of it is assembled already. 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.”

The .45-caliber Model 1911-type pistol used is a “parts gun.” It’s called an “80 percent gun” because the frame that contains the firing controls was purchased as an unfinished component. AR-15 type semiautomatic rifles are most often bought in the same manner.

Santa Clarita authorities found another unregistered kit gun at Berhow’s home. His father, now deceased, had another six registered guns that had been lawfully destroyed.

Seattle newspaper reports that state Attorney General Bob Furgeson has obtained a summary judgment from federal court against the Texas company that published information on the internet about how to construct a 3-D printed gun. Ferguson has sued the Trump Administration 51 times in the last three years.

It is obvious the media is now focusing on such guns with the Los Angeles Times quoting ATF spokeswoman Ginger Colburn who said: “About a third of all firearms seized in Southern California are unserialized, and that is expected to grow.”

The Times reported, “Such weapons often come in kits and can be acquired at gun shows or by mail. 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.”

Anti-gun groups are seizing on such language and using it to raise donations to gen up their grassroots supporters to demand something be done to prevent the use of such weapons.

With yet another demon of the gun-control lobby to hold up for attack, you can bet these ghost guns will be in the news 24/7. With no one for the legal system to prosecute, California law-abiding gun owners and then home gunsmiths nationwide will become the target of legislation to prohibit gun assembly kits. That is likely to include traditional pistols and muzzle-loading rifles which have been readily available for decades.

A report in The Trace illustrates how a focus on ghost guns allows the door for legislators to target legal gun owners. Legislators introduced bills in Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Washington, and Oregon in 2019.

Once again we see enemies of the Second Amendment using every means possible to deny citizens the right to bear arms.