11-22-2017, 04:10 PM
In the case of Neal, the second point also played out. The guns he used to kill the victims were what's called 'ghost guns'. They're apparently popping up all over the place and don't have registration numbers, so they can't be traced back to anyone.
It’s legal to build such a gun in a home or a workshop, and advances in 3-D printing and milling have made it easier to do so. Kits can be purchased legally for $450 to $1,000 from hundreds of websites without the kind of background check required for traditional gun purchases.
While making a ghost gun is legal, selling one is not. Federal officials are sounding the alarm about an increasing black market for homemade military-style semi-automatic rifles and handguns.
Mills where such weapons are built are popping up across the country and especially in California, which has strict gun laws. By 2019, people who own or create homemade firearms in California will have to apply for a serial number from the state and permanently affix it to the weapon.
I'm hoping the new bi-partisan gun legislation underway not only puts heavy pressure on the military and mental health officials to report into NICS, but also looks at requiring LE to pursue illegal possession charges aggressively. And, of course, universal background checks should be mandatory; it's long past time.
It also sure seems like a good idea for the feds to be proactive and require all ghost guns to have a registration number affixed and on file. I know many criminals wouldn't register the ghost guns regardless, but it would give LE an opportunity to arrest people in possession of unregistered ghost guns or up the charges if they're discovered in the commission of another crime.
More about ghost guns: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/...story.html
It’s legal to build such a gun in a home or a workshop, and advances in 3-D printing and milling have made it easier to do so. Kits can be purchased legally for $450 to $1,000 from hundreds of websites without the kind of background check required for traditional gun purchases.
While making a ghost gun is legal, selling one is not. Federal officials are sounding the alarm about an increasing black market for homemade military-style semi-automatic rifles and handguns.
Mills where such weapons are built are popping up across the country and especially in California, which has strict gun laws. By 2019, people who own or create homemade firearms in California will have to apply for a serial number from the state and permanently affix it to the weapon.
I'm hoping the new bi-partisan gun legislation underway not only puts heavy pressure on the military and mental health officials to report into NICS, but also looks at requiring LE to pursue illegal possession charges aggressively. And, of course, universal background checks should be mandatory; it's long past time.
It also sure seems like a good idea for the feds to be proactive and require all ghost guns to have a registration number affixed and on file. I know many criminals wouldn't register the ghost guns regardless, but it would give LE an opportunity to arrest people in possession of unregistered ghost guns or up the charges if they're discovered in the commission of another crime.
More about ghost guns: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/...story.html