Mass shootings in California and the whole nation are a huge problem that needs to be fixed because too many lives have been lost, time and time again. 

According to the Press Democrat, President Joe Biden made a statement in April calling mass shootings an “international embarrassment” and his administration aims to curb gun violence. 

Biden understands that it is going to be a challenge to improve gun security because he was handed a divided Congress who all have differing views regarding gun violence. 

However, what needs to be tackled first is ghost guns, because they unfortunately are rising in popularity, and more are being seized by police every year. Just like the term suggests, ghost guns are made to be ultimately untraceable. They are not made in the traditional sense like a normal gun that has a serial number, because they are created from kits or even 3D printers, according to the Press Democrat. These types of guns are a very popular option for people that would otherwise be forbidden from owning firearms in general.

More than 23,000 unserialized firearms were seized by authorities from 2006 to 2020.

According to the Press Democrat, Sonoma County is no different because we as a community have seen our fair share of ghost guns. “In 2018, Santa Rosa police seized three ghost guns,” a Press Democrat article stated. According to CBS SF BayArea, on July 11, 2021, Santa Rosa police took possession of two concealed ghost guns in separate incidents. The first arrest was at around 1 a.m. near a traffic stop on Dutton Avenue and W. Barham Road in the Roseland neighborhood of Santa Rosa. The officer found a .45 caliber handgun with a 26-round magazine under the driver’s seat of the vehicle. “19-year-old Alberto Arias of Santa Rosa was arrested on suspicion of three offenses: carrying a concealed gun in a vehicle, carrying a loaded gun in a vehicle, and resisting arrest.” The other arrest happened around three hours later and the same office contacted a man that was walking near Brockhurst Drive and West 3rd Street. This gun was an unloaded .357 caliber handgun that was wrapped in a black ski mask. “27-year-old Devin Braddi was arrested on suspicion of two offenses: carrying a concealed gun and being a convicted felon while in possession of a gun.” In 2021, officers brought in 37 ghost guns, which is more than a quarter of all the firearms that they collect for evidence purposes, Sergeant at the Santa Rosa Police Department Chris Mahurin told the Press Democrat.

In response to ghost guns raising in popularity, Police Chief Nader Oweis of the campus police said, “Privately manufactured firearms, also known as “ghost guns” are a real problem in California, and especially in Sonoma County because they are not serialized or tracked and because of the ease by which they can be purchased or made at home utilizing technology. Current federal and state law has just not caught up quickly enough. But, as Marvin Richardson, Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, recently stated as one of our presenters in the “Conversations with Black and Brown in Blue” series, ‘work is being done to close the loopholes.’”

There has even been a joint lawsuit by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, that was first filed by San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, against “three companies that make and sell ghost gun kits…” 

There is a new law that does not require approval from Congress set to go into effect by late 2021, regarding ghost guns and their consequences. The law will require that all guns have serial numbers, and can only be sold after a background check. 

However, ghost guns are a controversial topic, and some people don’t see the problem with them. Founder of JSD Supply Jordan Vinson, who runs one of the country’s leading distributors of ghost gun kits, said in an email to the Press Democrat, “Building your own firearm is a right we have had since the firearm was invented.” 

More controversy surrounding this topic is sure to surface in the media in the next few years, as the amount of ghost guns seized by police continues to rise every year, including in Sonoma County.