No time for do-it-yourself gunmakers

The issue: With the clock ticking toward the end of the Connecticut General Assembly session Wednesday, it’s important that the legislators take action on the menace of so-called “ghost guns,” weapons that can be assembled at home from parts available on the internet.

Full kits for making, say, an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle are available at any number of websites. Parts are available on eBay.

The guns are untraceable. They bear no serial number. Do-it-yourself gun makers are not what we need in Connecticut, or anywhere, for that matter.

A bill before the General Assembly, HB 5540, would ban guns without serial numbers and regulate those that are homemade or require final assembly. The bill also would let local authorities talk to immediate family members about the applicant’s suitability to have a permit, should a ghost gun owner apply for one. What we wrote: “Ghost guns are unregulated and therefore untraceable. Anyone — even teenagers — could procure one.

Ghost guns are a way to get around the law. The law must catch up with them.

The bipartisan bill passed the Judiciary Committee with a 25-to-16 vote last week. We urge approval by the full House and Senate this session.

The numbers of ghost guns in Connecticut are unknown, by their very nature, but the sense is they have been growing in response to stricter gun legislation enacted after the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy five years ago.

Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim cited an “active, thriving black market for guns without serial numbers that are untraceable” and, to no one’s surprise, end up involved in criminal activity.

Regulating homemade guns would not halt the entire black market, but it would be a positive step.

The thought of a 14-year-old with a drill being able to build and illegally own a firearm should be enough to scare anyone. But some gun rights supporters have argued against the bill.

For many it’s a hobby, they say. “We have the right to want to learn and expand upon our knowledge of the manufacture and design of arms. Saying we must

cripple our ideas (just because it’s firearms related) is wrong,” testified E. Jonathan Hardy, an executive member of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League and a Waterbury gun salesman. Connecticut must protect public safety and regulate ghost guns. Editorial, April 13, 2018

Where it stands: HB 5540 has not been brought up for a vote in the House. This is beyond puzzling.

Supporters of the bill, namely Connecticut Against Gun Violence, had planned a rally for Saturday at the Capitol to pressure House leadership to bring the bill up for a vote.

Why it would take pressure for legislators to recognize the potential menace posed by do-it-yourself gun making is doubly puzzling.

Gun enthusiasts have every right to buy a weapon through the channels that society has spent decades fine tuning in an effort balance the rights of gun owners with considerations for public safety.

Freelance gunmaking throws that balance way off.

HB 5540 has not been brought up for a vote in the House. This is beyond puzzling.