Oakland among cities to ban ‘ghost guns’
Oakland on Tuesday became the latest California city to ban the components for easy-to-assemble and impossible-to-trace “ghost guns,” whose popularity has spiked in recent years amid a wave of gun violence in the city.
The ordinance, which passed unopposed, takes aim at the rapid proliferation of the firearms, which can be ordered online and delivered without a serial number or the buyer’s undergoing a background check.
Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan and council members Dan Kalb and Noel Gallo proposed the ordinance. In seeking its passage, Kalb and Gallo called it a key move to strike back against a spate of gun violence across the city.
“We don’t pretend that one new law is going to end gun violence in the next month in Oakland or any other city,” said Kalb ahead of the vote. “But any additional thing we can do that makes it a little bit harder, I think, is worth the effort.”
The proposal passed in a bulk vote alongside several other items, and most council members did not comment on it. A second vote, expected Feb. 1, is needed for the ordinance to become law.
Other communities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Berkeley, have passed similar ordinances over the last year. One such ordinance, passed in San Diego, prompted a federal lawsuit from a coalition of local gun owners that is ongoing.
The laws aim to cut down on the growing number of ghost guns being used on the streets amid what supporters say are lax state and federal regulations.
“More needs to happen at the federal and state level, but this is what we can do locally,” said Kalb during Tuesday’s meeting.
Ghost guns are firearms that can be assembled at home — in as little as an hour — from parts that do not arrive stamped with serial numbers, making them untraceable.