The 16 year old who shot fellow students and then himself in southern California apparently used a 1911 replica finished from an 80% receiver. That’s right folks… ‘ghost guns’ are haunting us again with their lack of serial numbers making them magnitudes more dangerous than regular arms apparently.
Such weapons are a growing problem for law enforcement around the country because the parts are easy to obtain and the guns take limited expertise to build. In Southern California, federal authorities say one-third of all the firearms seized are ghost guns. – The New York Times
So kit guns that per Federal Law are not required to have a serial number when built for personal use, not retail sale, are a “growing problem” because their ownership cannot be traced/no background check is required to own them. Then apparently when someone does something illegal, like murder or aggravated assault, the lack of serial number for an ownership trace is the root of the problem? Not the murder or assault?
I understand that ownership trace is valuable data for law enforcement, especially if they are trying to track illicit arms trafficking, however this seems to be missing the forest for the trees when it comes to the problem of a mass casualty incident outside of organized criminal enterprise. We pay attention to the gun and its lack of a series of digits on the side while completely ignoring the person who used it. The complex sequence of thoughts and stimuli that led him to the conclusion that murdering classmates was the outlet he required is sidelined for… OMG NO numbers! No background check!
What if the person who bought this frame is a legal, licensed and background checked respectable California citizen? Would a serial number change any of that? Would numbers carved into the frame of a firearm have significantly altered the chain of custody on this gun enough to have prevented these deaths, his and his classmates? Was there no other reasonable access to means for the teen to kill his classmates?
The parts built no number 1911 is legal, in legal hands.
Which a 16 year old is not. Multiple homicide is also not legal by the way. Bringing a gun, serial number or no, to school is also illegal and will usually result in charges and expulsion.
But… the allegation now becomes ‘this would never have happened if the gun was required to have a serial number’, although you shouldn’t challenge this to authority bodies directly because then they have to acknowledge the ridiculously complex nature of a problem they keep trying and failing to rubber stamp with a simplistic solution.
But expect 80% items to catch heat now.
