On July 15, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance legislation that would expand restrictions on manufacturing and possessing firearms — specifically “ghost guns.”
Assembly Bill 1263, “Firearms: Ghost Guns,” which was introduced by Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-Carson), was approved with an 11-1 vote by the committee. It has now moved to the Senate Standing Committee on Appropriations for consideration.
“When you talk about ghost guns, again, on the television, when you talk about mass shootings, a lot of those times a ghost gun is involved,” Gipson told the committee. “Ghost guns are untraceable (and) have no serial numbers. We can’t live in a society where these guns are not traceable. Law enforcement and the Department of Justice need to know who these guns are registered to.”
According to Every Town For Gun Safety, a ghost gun is categorized as a privately manufactured firearm without a serial number, making it difficult to detect. The weapons are often made from kits or unfinished parts, such as 80% lower receivers or 3D-printed components.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) estimated that nearly 71,000 alleged privately made ghost guns were recovered by law enforcement between the years 2016 and 2022.
Several organizations argue that AB 1263 violates the right to privately build firearms and infringes upon the industry’s Second Amendment rights. Adam Wilson, who represents Gun Owners of America, told the committee and Gipson that the bill is unconstitutional and that building firearms privately is a fundamental right.
“AB 1263 is a deeply flawed and unconstitutional attempt to criminalize both technology and free expression,” Wilson said. “It punishes not just action but information itself, specifically, the sharing of CAD (Computer-Aided Design software) files and CAM (Computer-Aided Manufacturing) codes (for 3-D printing) that can be used to make firearms and parts. You can’t ban information because it makes you uncomfortable.”
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Bo Tefu, CBM contributed to this report.
