Fight over San Diego 'ghost gun' ordinance heats up as judge dismisses challenge
'Ghost guns' account for around 20% of firearms confiscated by San Diego police
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The debate of San Diego’s "ghost gun" ordinance continued to intensify after a federal judge Wednesday rejected a lawsuit against enforcement of the new law.
Gun owners filed the lawsuit in the City of San Diego courts last month, just hours after Mayor Todd Gloria signed the ordinance that bans the possession, purchase, sale, receipt and transportation of homemade, personally manufactured firearms without commercial serial numbers – collectively known as "ghost guns."
The Eliminate Non-Serialized Untraceable Firearm Ordinance goes into effect Saturday, KPBS reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The San Diego City Administration Building is pictured with a new park on Thursday, June 12, 2014 in Downtown San Diego, CA. The City Admin Building features a new park out fron that features fountains, green space and a children's playground area. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Corbis via Getty Images) (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Corbis via Getty Images)
"The issue of gun violence in our city is significant and a lot of the growth we are seeing in this violence has been driven by ghost guns," Gloria said when he signed the ordinance on Sept. 23. "We as a community cannot allow that to happen."
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However, Michael Schwartz, executive director of the San Diego Gun Owners Association, called the ordinance vague and "ridiculously ineffective," according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. He argued that the law will ban all legal gun owners from getting parts as there is no process to put serial numbers on unfinished gun parts.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Firearms Policy Coalition, San Diego County Gun Owners PAC and some San Diego residents who filed the lawsuit also argued that the ordinance violates Second Amendment rights.
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"The right of individuals to self-manufactured arms for self-defense and other lawful purposes is part and parcel of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and an important front in the battle to secure fundamental rights against abusive government regulations like San Diego's unconstitutional ban," said Adam Kraut, the coalition's senior director of legal operations.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cerakote-coated 80% lower receivers for AR-15 rifles are displayed for sale at Firearms Unknown, a gun store in Oceanside, California, U.S., April 12, 2021. Unfinished and inoperable so-called "80% receivers" are not legally considered firearms and do not require background checks to purchase in most states, but can be used to assemble un-serialized "ghost guns". REUTERS/Bing Guan
U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant wrote that the ordinance "does not completely prohibit … the right to possess frames and receivers necessary (to) create one’s own firearm, but rather restricts the self-manufacturing of firearms using unfinished frames and receivers only."
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She further called the ordinance a reasonable measure.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The San Diego County Board of Supervisors earlier this week voted 3-2 in favor of developing a countywide ordinance to similarly ban "ghost guns."
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San Diego police say that the number of ghost guns seized by San Diego police has risen year over year and now account for more than 20% of all firearms officers confiscate, according to the department.