Now they're coming after gun parts

[aociswundumho]

U.S. cities sue federal government over untraceable 'ghost guns' - Reuters

The bad:

U.S. cities sue federal government over untraceable 'ghost guns'

Chicago and three other cities on Wednesday sued the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), demanding it correct how it interprets what is a firearm and halt the sale of untraceable "ghost gun" kits increasingly used in crimes.
...

The lawsuit argues the ATF and the Department of Justice "refuse to apply the clear terms of the Gun Control Act," which the suit says defines regulated firearms as not only working weapons "but also their core building blocks - frames for pistols, and receivers for long guns."

The good:

The continued rapid advancement of tools and technology widely available to the public meant it was getting to the point where even rudimentary "chunks of metal" can be turned into firearms, Vasquez said.

"How do you regulate that? The ATF can't do it. This situation is uncontrollable because of technology, and I'm not sure what anyone can do about it."

 

[aociswundumho]

For those interested, here is a relevant article from last year about what a headache these types of lawsuits are for the rotten ATF:

BATFE Drops 80% Receiver Case in California; Fears Precedent

 

[TurtleDude]

the proper thing to do is impose severe penalties for those who use firearms to harm innocent people. Trying to ban guns is moronic

 

[Chillfolks]

If these cities are having a problem with “ghost guns” they should pass laws that increase the penalty for using one in a crime. Of course that would only target criminals and not needlessly harass law abiding citizens. It all depends on what is more important punishing criminals or harassing law abiding gun owners.

 

[Waddy]

I was told in a previous thread that the technology for making guns at home just doesn't exist, and ghost guns is a fake issue. Times seem to have changed over the past few months.

The fact is, as wannabe gun regulators are finding out, that technology is quickly making gun control impossible. Anyone with a 3D printer or a computer driven CNC machine can simply feed in the specs and make gun frames. And the finished product looks pretty darn good. Then buy the additional parts to finish the gun. No serial numbers, no tracing. It isn't illegal in most places to build guns at home, for you own use. Building them to sell is a whole 'nother story, and can land a person in jail.

Skilled people have been building guns at home since guns were first invented; modern technology just made it easy for people with little or no skill to do so.

Turtledude and other posters are correct; the only way to deal with this is long, long prison terms for people using these guns in crimes.

 

[rickc]

Plenty of laws on the books that aren't being enforced.

Only ones.abiding by the laws are the ones they want to take the guns away from.

Just how many gun laws do you think the average drug dealing gang banger is breaking? Police know where they are. They also know who most.of.them are. Why don't they lock them up?

Most of the mass shooters have mental problems friends and family see the signs. They may even have had interaction with the police.or mental health facility. Why are they walking the.streets? Why do they have access to weapons?

 

[Aberro]

The lawsuits should be shown to be w/o merit and thrown out.

Until the current panic, I could and did buy used Police .40 glocks for $300 bucks. So no savings as far as cost.

Point is, only hobbyist build 80% firearms. The serial numbers on regular guns can be made unreadable if one really wants to.
So lawsuit is useless, just another attack on law abiding citizens.