SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- There’s a new effort to get ghost guns off the street.
A proposal by San Diego City Councilmember Marni Von Wilpert would make it illegal for unserialized gun kits to be sold in San Diego. That would include sales both online and in stores.
Police say the guns are a big problem, making it harder for them to do their jobs. “It’s difficult for officers to go to scene where someone’s been shot… and find out it was a ghost gun that was so easy to obtain,” said San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit earlier this month.
A June report from San Diego police showed they seized 77 ghost guns in 2019. Last year, that number jumped to 211. By the end of this year, police project they will more than double that number.
Von Wilpert is introducing what’s being called the E.N.U.F (Eliminate Non-Serialized Untraceable Firearm) Ordinance. It would “prohibit the possession, purchase, sale, receipt, and transportation of non-serialized, unfinished frames and unfinished receivers, and non-serialized firearms within the City of San Diego.”
“It’ll be a step in the right direction to prevent gun violence because I don’t want to wait for others to act. I want to save lives today,” Von Wilpert said.
The kits used to make ghost guns are typically 80 percent completed and the buyer finishes building the gun. It comes with no serial number. A person is supposed to apply for it through the Department of Justice.
“The goal of this ordinance is to prohibit these unserialized parts from even entering the City of San Diego at all,” Von Wilpert said.
Michael Schwartz, Executive Director of the San Diego County Gun Owners PAC, called the ordinance “unnecessarily.” Schwartz said it is already illegal for anyone in California to have an unserialized firearm.
In a statement, Schwartz said, “San Diego's extremist ordinance that criminalizes pieces of metal and plastic will not accomplish their stated goal of stopping crime. Continuing to go after the rights, hobbies, and tools of people who abide by the law will never stop criminals from committing crime.”
The full council will hear the proposal Monday August 2.
