Here is comes (again) -- It's the Gun Industry's Fault
- Thread starter mehavey
- Start date
IMHO, it's not that lack of serial numbers are that much a law-enforcement problem, asATN... said:
much as they are easier to attack than the root problem -- an exploding criminal element
within the current social construct
Like gov't-issue crypto currency, however, such numbers + ATF digitization of records make
for easy tracking of all information across the board.
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As a point of reference to show how this is just a drop in the bucket, Chicago police regularly confiscate over 5,000 guns every 6 months:
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/loc...0-illegal-guns-seized-so-far-in-2021/2544629/
Funny thing is, with over 5,000 "illegal" guns, shouldn't there be about 5,000-ish prosecutions every 6 months? That would be serious jail time for the bad guys. Wouldn't that about clear the streets after a couple years? More proof the people in charge aren't serious about crime and protecting their citizens.
The "significant problem" is things being reported like this....
Once again, the press, and many politicians, (and as usual gun control groups) are MISREPRESENTING THE TRUTH to get support for their agenda.
One of the biggest distortions is the complete failure to mention that the things they say are the problem with "ghost guns" are already covered under existing law and have been criminal offenses since 1968, if not earlier.
First, lets debunk the "they lack serial #s and so cops can't trace them..' thing.
Prior to 1968 serial numbers were not legally required on ANY firearm. Since the later 1800s many guns did have serial#s, put there by the makers, because they wanted to. NOT because of any law. And while virtually all "quality" guns had them, a large number of "budget" .22s and shotguns did not. I"ve owned a couple of these over the years, and they are covered and grandfathered legal by the 1968 law.
The GCA 68 required all guns made/imported into the US after 68 to have serial numbers. And, it requires serial # on all guns sold unless they are pre-1968 and grandfathered.
Now, lets look at "ghost guns" with no serial number. The law (Fed) has always allowed individuals to make their own guns, for their own use. And did not require serial numbers or registry with the Federal govt, provided they remained the property of the maker.
The law also allowed the masker to sell a gun he made, when he got tired of it. HOWEVER, when put on the market, the gun had to have a serial number added to it, and comply with all other Federal requirements or it was a CRIME!
Making guns for yourself and selling one or two once in a while was ok. Making guns with the intent of selling them, without a valid FFL is also a CRIME.
SO, someone making guns from kits (and just FYI, the parts kits do not contain ALL the needed parts) and selling it to gangbangers (knowingly selling to prohibited persons) is breaking at least three (3) federal laws right there. Laws that have existed for over half a century.
Next point: "no serial # means untraceable"...
No. It just means more difficult to trace. It means the cops cannot sit at a desk and access a computer data base, or even go to where paper records are kept and search them, but must use field work investigation the same way they have to use it to find out where the (non-serial numbered) illegal drugs come from. Or anything else in our world that might turn up in an investigation that does not (and never did) have serial numbers.
Consider what a gun trace gets the cops, anyway...They recover a gun at a crime scene...they've got the serial number (if it hasn't been defaced or removed (which is a separate crime in, and of itself) so they can go to the maker/importer records, find out what dealer that gun was shipped to. Then they can go to that dealer and with their records find out who LEGALLY bought the gun. At that point, the trail pretty much goes cold.
They can go to the last legal owner for which there is a record, but no further, via a record search. Now, IF the last legal owner (of record) is a suspect then MAYBE they've got something.
What do they have when the last legal owner legally sold the gun years or decades before and has no records of who bought it, because the law did not require such records be kept by private citizens? They have nothing connecting that former owner with the current crime investigation.
Same for guns that are stolen. They can trace the gun up to the point it was reported stolen, which also might be years and years ago, but beyond that, nothing. that's all a serial number on a gun allows them to do. Trace it up to the end of the paper trail, but that trail might end years before they recover the gun from a crime scene.
Next point,
This is a BS statement in several ways. The main one is that the Fed background check does NOT check firearms. It checks PEOPLE. And the serial# of the gun is NOT INVOLVED in that. "Long gun" or "handgun" is included, so the check can cover the age restrictions for purchase but individual gun serial #s are not.
SO, what we have here is the press claiming that the lack of a serial# prevents the cops from doing something that they cannot do anyway, even if they have the serial number. It is, in simplest terms, a lie.
And finally, even if the gun is "mostly plastic" it has more than enough metal to set off a metal detector, and even if it didn't the ammuntion DOES.
I'm sure the police are finding these "ghost guns" at crime scenes in ever increasing numbers, various folks on the internet have been educating the public (including the criminal public) about them for years, and lately the press has taken over and expanded that function. Teach people exactly how to break the law, and how easy it is, and gosh, you know, some people WILL do that!
What we have here is a "crisis" created by disinformation, in order to allow the govt to expand the rules and restrictions in order to "do something" about what has been a crime for decades under already existing laws.
The danger here is that, depending on how they write, and interpret new rules and regulations, previously law abiding citizens could find themselves in violation without even realizing it, because they had some spare gun parts in their possession. All it takes is a over broadly written regulation and an ignorant jury swallowing the prosecutor's BS whole. it's happened before, so, its possible it can happen again.