San Jose Officials Consider Banning Ghost Guns

By Eli Wolfe, San Jose Spotlight

May 9, 2022

San Jose officials are considering a ban on ghost guns, which if approved would mark the city’s latest effort to tighten the use of firearms.

On Tuesday, councilmembers will vote on an ordinance prohibiting residents from possessing, manufacturing, selling, assembling, receiving or distributing un-serialized firearms and their parts. These homemade weapons are also known as ghost guns because they’re difficult to trace and can be easily assembled through kits or 3D printers. In February, local law enforcement busted a ghost gun factory operating out of a house in San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood.

Ghost guns accounted for 25-50% of firearms recovered at crime scenes in California during an 18-month period in 2020 and 2021, according to a city memo. In Santa Clara County, the number of ghost guns recovered at crimes scenes increased by nearly 72% between 2015 and 2021.

San Jose Police Department spokesperson Steven Aponte said the department welcomes any legislation that helps officers remove illegal guns from the streets.

“Every illegal weapon taken from the hands of criminals helps prevent additional violent crimes from occurring,” Aponte told San José Spotlight.

Councilmember Dev Davis, who represents District 6 where the ghost gun factory was located, said she’s still examining details in the proposed ban. Davis noted some gun enthusiasts want to assemble firearms legally, and she doesn’t want a prohibition so broad it will harm them. However, she sees ghost guns as a problem fueling gun violence in the city.

“We absolutely need to do everything we can to get ghost guns out of the hands of criminals,” Davis told San José Spotlight.

Following a mass shooting at the VTA light rail yard in downtown San Jose last May, city officials pushed for a slate of gun control measures. In January, San Jose became the first city in the country to mandate gun owners purchase liability insurance and pay an annual fee of $25 to cover losses or damage resulting from negligent or accidental firearm use. This new law appears to be floundering.

San Jose isn’t alone in considering outlawing ghost guns. Several California cities have passed laws banning un-serialized firearms, including San Francisco and San Diego. In April, President Joe Biden announced the finalization of a requirement for makers of gun kits to include serial numbers on firearm parts. The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors recently asked legal counsel to present options for a similar law at a meeting scheduled later this month.

San Jose resident Dave Truslow, a National Rifle Association gun instructor, said he’s skeptical the ban will be effective, noting people can assemble crude firearms from cheap, legal parts available in most hardware stores. He told San José Spotlight it would be more useful if San Jose joined with other cities in the county to hire a federal prosecutor to exclusively prosecute gun crimes.

“That’s what some other cities have done, and they’re starting to see significant results,” Truslow told San José Spotlight.

Margaret Petros, executive director of Mothers Against Murder, said she’s supportive of any law that curbs gun violence, but doubts a ban will be an effective deterrent. Speaking as she left the funeral of a person killed in a recent San Jose homicide, Petros said she wants policymakers to focus more on systemic root causes of crime.

“I see in Santa Clara County things are getting worse and worse—emotional traumas, homelessness, all of society’s problems need to also be taken care of,” Petros told San José Spotlight. “I feel like I’ve been banging my head against a brick wall when it comes to helping victims and preventing crimes from happening.”

The San Jose City Council meets Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. Learn how to watch and participate.

Contact Eli Wolfe at eli@sanjosespotlight.com or @EliWolfe4 on Twitter.

This story will be updated.

San José Spotlight is the city's first nonprofit news organization dedicated to independent political and business reporting. Please support our public service journalism by clicking here.