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The California Office of Gun Violence Prevention released an inaugural report Wednesday showing "substantial progress" in decreasing the proliferation and circulation of ghost guns throughout the state, Attorney General Rob Bonta said.
Ghost guns are firearms produced illegally by unlicensed manufacturers and do not have an identifying serial number. They are called "ghost" guns because tracing them is nearly impossible for law enforcement without a serial number.
A news conference in San Francisco about the release of the report featured a variety of ghost guns on display that were recovered by the California Department of Justice, including AR-15's, pistols and parts used to construct them.
"In a typical firearm transaction, you have a licensed dealer that is the seller of the firearm," Bonta said. "You have a purchaser who goes through a legally required background check. If the background check clears, then the firearm is marked with a unique serial number. None of that happens when it comes to ghost guns."
Skirting around the legal process of obtaining guns allows anyone to acquire them, regardless of their age or criminal history.
"The ghost gun industry has had widespread appeal to people who are too young or too dangerous to legally own firearms," Bonta said. "Those are largely the folks who are purchasing ghost guns. If you have a credit card and an internet connection, you are able to buy a ghost gun."
Starting in 2020, the amount of ghost guns recovered in California shot up dramatically compared to the previous decade. The number of ghost guns recovered by law enforcement from suspected criminal activity rose from 1,572 in 2019 to nearly 11,000 in 2021, according to the report.
"Ghost guns were not a threat a decade ago. They have grown as a risk and threat in recent years and new threats lay on the horizon. Things like 3D printers and milling machines can actually allow you to manufacture your own gun in your own home," Bonta said. "The pandemic-era increase in gun crime that we saw was in large part fueled by the ghost gun industry."
In 2022, Bonta established California's Office of Gun Violence Prevention solely aimed at reducing and preventing gun violence.
California has uniquely seen disproportionate growth in the ghost gun black market compared to every other state in the country because it has some of the strictest gun laws. Of the nearly 38,000 ghost guns recovered in total in the entire country from 2017 to 2021, California's ghost guns accounted for 55% of them, according to the report.
"California does have the strongest gun laws in the country," said Krystal LoPilato, senior policy counsel at Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization dedicated to gun violence prevention across the country. "It's going to continue to be an appealing market for an industry dedicated to providing deadly weapons to people seeking to bypass background checks and overcome safety laws."
However, Wednesday's report revealed that 23% fewer ghost guns were recovered in total across the state in 2023 compared to 2021.
"We're starting to bend the curve through a combination of smart legislation, enforcement and litigation against irresponsible manufacturers and dealers of these dangerous weapons," said Mike McLively, policy director of the Giffords Center for Violence Intervention, an organization dedicated to ending gun violence. It's named after former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt after being shot in the head while hosting an event in Tucson, Arizona back in 2011.
In counties in and near the Bay Area, San Francisco, San Mateo, Sonoma, Santa Cruz, Marin, Contra Costa and Alameda counties saw ghost gun recovery rates decline in 2023 versus 2022. Santa Cruz and Sonoma counties had the greatest decreases of 12.3% and 9.1%, respectively. Monterey and Santa Clara counties saw ghost gun recoveries rise in 2023 from 2022.
Bonta gives credit to California's innovative solutions, including new legislation in recent years aimed at regulating ghost gun production, penalizing possession of ghost guns, holding accountable unlicensed manufacturers and requiring background checks to purchase unfinished gun parts like frames and receivers.
"California's response included the nation's most comprehensive ghost gun reform legislation, a package of laws that really focused on ghost guns and made sure that we were regulating them appropriately, treating frames and receivers as firearms as they should be," Bonta said. "Many of the major provisions of California's ghost gun reforms took effect in June of 2022. And as the report documents, it's no coincidence that we've seen substantial progress against ghost guns since that time."
Gun violence overall has seen profound decreases across the state compared to 30 years ago, when California had the third-highest rate of gun homicides in the entire country and the 16th-highest rate of overall gun mortality, according to the state's Department of Justice.
"After three decades plus of gun safety reforms and investments in both law enforcement and community-based public safety strategies, we now have the seventh-lowest gun death rate in the nation," McLively said.
Bonta and the Office of Gun Violence Prevention hope that California's approach can serve as an example for the rest of the country.
"Our significant recent progress indicates that California's efforts present a model for what can be done effectively to address our ghost gun crisis. Other policymakers should take note, as well in other states and at the national level," Bonta said.
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