Teen used ‘ghost gun’ in California high school shooting

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I believe it will put pressure on law makers to regulate the 80% receivers out there.
Not a good thing for us.
 
I am very skeptical. I don’t know much about 80% receivers but a 1911 would probably be one of the hardest to get to run.

Also a little skeptical that 1 in 3 confiscated guns wasn’t made in a factory. Maybe we have more guns floating around in Missouri but I’ve personally never shot or handled anything without a serial number from the factory.
 
I let a buddy of mine use my mill to mill the rails on his 4140 steel 80% 1911 frame. After he figured out how to line up the frame and hold it securely the actual milling was pretty easy with a little guidance. He had finished an 80% aluminum frame using a jig previously. He also milled out the pocket and drilled the necessary holes on my mill. After he had it milled he said it took a decent bit of hand filing to get the finished 1911 to run properly without also being sloppy. He was quite pleased with the results. He tried to talk me into building one at the same time but I already have 1911's and building one from an 80% receiver costs more than buying a pretty decent new one or even a quite nice used one.

He wanted a steel frame 1911 that he built himself to add to his collection which I can understand.

I guess the anti's could try to ban selling 80% frames which would send there prices through the roof. Or they could try to force a home build to be registered which would not have done anything for the mentioned article. With the proliferation of plastic guns and the continually lower prices on 3D printers I don't see how they are going to get on top of manufacturing guns at home.
 
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Ca has already enacted no-serial number gun laws. It’ll make 80% lowers a thing of the past here at some point.

I must say that these incidents are making it harder for me to talk openly about firearms to an audience of non owners or potential antis. I’m tired of having to defend my second amendment rights because yet again some pathetic clown decides to make himself a media hero by killing innocent people.

Stay safe.
 
I am very skeptical. I don’t know much about 80% receivers but a 1911 would probably be one of the hardest to get to run.

Also a little skeptical that 1 in 3 confiscated guns wasn’t made in a factory. Maybe we have more guns floating around in Missouri but I’ve personally never shot or handled anything without a serial number from the factory.

Except for old firearms, every firearm I own has a serial number
 
I would believe it if they were talking about the guns sent into Mexico illegally that wound up back here...

One thing I have learned in my lifetime is that everything is “easy” for people that have no clue what they are talking about.

Same people complain about their TV going out in a thunder storm, couldn’t even create film for a pin hole camera but think it’s easy to relay a signal from earth through a satellite and back to an obstruction due to weather location, where the homeowner doesn’t keep their trees trimmed, because they don’t know how to, despite that also being easy...

Pretty sure the 1911 would be at the bottom of the list for “easy” 80% and very far from 33% of 1911 population in the circles I run in of machinists much less Highschool kids. More likely he stole or bought it already stolen from someone that did make it, if it were true at all...
 
Berhow’s father was an avid hunter who died two years ago. He had six registered guns in the family’s home but they were seized in 2016.

Officials found several unregistered firearms in the home after the shooting and are working to determine where those and the weapon used at the high school came from.
 
SoCal authorities say one-third of all guns seized are "ghost guns?"

I call B.S. on that one. No frickin' way.

Maybe they are including the ones kids make with their fingers, that are arrested...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/11/year-old-finger-gun-felony-charges-kansas/

I suppose they also include pre 1968 non serial numbered firearms and firearms that have had their serial numbers removed after being stolen. Still dishonest reporting at best. They wonder why they can’t get ahold of problems, while they can’t even be honest with themselves...
 
The 30% thing is likely correct.. BUT. Remember, that number is 30% of guns seized by ATF agents in Cali. Not seized by law enforcement. There have been a couple high profile raids by the ATF of what were essentially factories making firearms from 80% lowers specifically for sale to less than legal or ethical buyers. So yeah, ATF goes in only for high profile raids, numbers look inflated. Meanwhile, regular street cops seize a million Lorcins and Hi-Points.
 
Like others, I'm highly skeptical of that "1 in 3" number. I've seen hundreds of police reports involving guns in the past few years and can't think of a single one that definitively involved an 80% anything. I've had one or two that said "firearm had no serial number," but it was unclear whether it was an 80% or a defaced firearm.

I also agree that the antis will take this opportunity to equate 80% whatevers with unregistered firearms. That if only we'd force everyone to register everything .....
 
Considering the estimates expressed in documentaries concerning the "ghost gun" issue, it still seems that by far the most common type of untraceable gun is foreign-manufactured clandestine handgun. Consumer NC machines and unfinished frames are a relatively new phenomenon and while we're rapidly approaching the level where "0% receiver" (aka. bar stock) can be automatically machined into a complete one without investing five-six figures in an industrial multi-axis milling machine, people who just want a gun for crime usually take the path of least resistance.

OTOH, I've had a number of receivers made over the years, legally and often at a very affordable cost, so all it takes is a slightly careless operator of one of the thousands upon thousands of milling machines to slip a bit and just throw a customer's 3D plans into one to facilitate the manufacturing of as many untraceable receivers as the customer wants.

Same goes for the majority of other parts, a rifled barrel and magazines being the most notable exception. Then again, magazines are plentiful and it's ridiculously easy to go smoothbore if accuracy isn't a major consideration.
 
Hold up, hold up....a 16 year old kid had a milling machine and gunsmithing tools at the house and no one noticed? Or his late father had someone put together an 80% kit and it was still in the home after he passed...in which case what exactly does it matter if this was a "ghost gun" or had the serial defaced, or had any other issue.
The lack of a serial number or registration on a firearm didn't create a insatiable urge in this kid to shoot up a school and commit suicide
 
I suppose that if the gun had a serial number they could possibly trace it back to whomever sold it to him, and even that isn't a given. Maybe they just want to sue the manufacturer, like in CT.

If this really was a "ghost gun" I think it's incredibly unlikely the kid himself made it.
 
And WHAT, pray tell, did the absence of any serial numbers have to do with the criminal act itself? In what way could their presence have possibly altered the outcome?

Anybody here have any answer other than "nothing" which can be quantifiably supported?

It isn't about the criminal act itself. It is about finding more people to blame.
 
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