‘Ghost Gun’ Seized In Castro Valley Man's Peninsula Arrest

SAN BRUNO, CA — An unserialized “ghost gun” was seized earlier this week during the arrest of a suspected gang member, San Bruno police said.

A 19-year-old Castro Valley man was arrested on suspicion of illegal firearm possession and gang-related charges, police said. He was subsequently booked into the San Mateo County Jail.

The San Bruno Police Department does not identify suspects unless they pose a threat to public safety, the agency told Patch.

Officers on Monday evening responded to a disturbance in the 800 block of Huntington Avenue in San Bruno, police said.

The suspect ran from the area as officers arrived, but he was arrested after a foot pursuit, police said.

The gun found in the suspect’s possession was loaded, police said.

The case illustrates the widespread proliferation of unserialized firearms, a growing national public safety threat that is appearing in municipalities large and small across the country.

“Our department, like many others, has increasingly come into contact with individuals in possession of privately made firearms without serial numbers,” San Bruno police Lt. Gene Wong said in an email to Patch.

Ghost guns are manufactured privately, often using D.I.Y. kits sold online with no serial numbers. They are sold without background checks and are untraceable.

“Untraceable DIY ghost guns are the fastest growing gun safety problem in the country," the gun control advocacy group Everytown wrote on its website.

"They’ve become a weapon of choice for violent criminals, including white supremacists. And because they can be obtained with no background check and no questions asked, they are undermining gun safety laws across the country.”

Gun-control advocates attribute the proliferation of the unserialized weapons to outdated laws that enable dealers to skirt regulations.

"Ghost gun companies have been exploiting the way that the federal government defines 'firearms' to argue that the products they’re selling aren’t guns and avoid complying with regulations like background checks and tracing requirements," David Pucino, a senior attorney at Giffords, a gun violence prevention group, told USA Today.