LA City Council Approves Motion Calling for Ordinance Banning Ghost Guns

A 9mm, unserialized “ghost gun” recovered by police from a repeat felon at the end of a short pursuit in Pasadena on Sept. 4, 2020. (Credit: Pasadena Police Department)

In a move being monitored locally, the City Council took a major step today toward prohibiting the possession, purchase, sale, receipt and transportation of “ghost guns” in Los Angeles.

The council voted 14-0 to have the City Attorney’s Office draft an ordinance prohibiting ghost guns, also known as kit guns and 80% receivers. The virtually untraceable weapons can be assembled by unlicensed buyers from legally purchased kits.

The unfinished parts are inexpensive and not required under federal law to have serial numbers or a background check to purchase.

San Diego passed a similar ordinance earlier this year.

City Manager Steve Mermell said the city supported efforts to clamp down on the problematic weapons.

“We will continue to monitor efforts on this front, and if we believe it would help, we would certainly ask the council to consider similar action,” Mermell wrote.

Last week, Pasadena police recovered two ghost guns, including one from a man with the weapon on his lap at a local McDonald’s.

Last month, local police arrested a man for possession of an unserialized ghost gun and high-capacity magazines after he was pulled over for a traffic violation

Police say a ghost gun found at the scene of a fatal officer-involved shooting last year was brandished by Anthony McClain as he fled from police during a traffic stop.

Ghost guns accounted for more than 40% of guns confiscated by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and one-third of crime guns recovered by the Los Angeles Police Department in 2020.

“When we see an increase in homicides here, and when we see that the LAPD reports that 40% of the crime guns recovered are ghost guns, we know that we have a very urgent critical situation that needs to be addressed,” Councilman Paul Krekorian said Tuesday before the unanimous vote to pass the motion he introduced with Councilman Paul Koretz on Aug. 10.

The motion also directs the LAPD to present data to the council within 14 days on the impact of ghost guns in Los Angeles, including the number of non-serialized firearms confiscated from people and recovered at crime scenes and the number of shootings and homicides that involved non-serialized firearms.