Hello Thursday.

On November 14, 2019, a 16-year-old student with a homemade “ghost gun” walked to the Saugus High School campus in Santa Clarita and shot five classmates, killing them. He then shot and committed suicide.

Mia Tretta was one of the hits, taking a bullet into the abdomen from a .45 caliber weapon made from a kit sold by the Chula Vista company. Tretta was put in the classroom and hid. Her best friend, Dominique Blackwell, was one of the deceased people.

Surprisingly, untrackable ghost guns like those who killed Blackwell and killed Tretta’s radically changed life have pushed the theory that these weapons don’t require background checks or serial numbers, and therefore are not guns unless you assemble them.

However, these almost complete kits are driving a surge in violence nationwide, particularly in California.

“You can see that in particular on my filming,” Tretta told me Wednesday. “If these ghost guns weren’t there, my shooters wouldn’t have access to the gun.”

supreme court, A somewhat surprising 7-2 bipartisan ruling, It should end that suspect’s logic on Wednesday, supporting Biden-era regulations in 2022, Bureau of Alcohol, cigarettes, firearms and explosives, and be subject to many sales regulations to sell ghost guns as ready-made weapons.

That’s “great news like this,” said Tretta, who is now a sophomore at Brown University. “It’s been a tough job for many years and sometimes when the Supreme Court seems to be able to do anything right, they certainly did the right thing in this case.”

California problems

The ghost gun issue was a particularly troublesome issue for California, according to an ATF research.

During that period, law enforcement agencies across the country submitted gun records to federal agencies that have recovered a total of 1.9 million weapons suspected of being used to engage in illegal activities. Guns photographed in California accounted for 12% of them, but in the case of ghost guns, California explained that 55% of crime-related firearms were recovered.

The California problem was very serious One study discovered by a respected gun violence researcher In 2021, of all guns recovered in state crimes, 18.5% were ghost guns. For guns recovered in murders against police officers, 32% were ghost guns. And 22% were ghost guns recovered from crimes that included violations of court orders (such as domestic violence), parole, or probation.

California numbers are miserable, but the Ghost Guns pose a threat to public safety and police across the country.

“I was in the hospital with a law enforcement officer whose colleagues were shot and killed by ghost guns. I met with the officers on a daily basis…it seizes these guns from the streets that terrorize the community,” New Jersey said. General Matthew Platkin was the co-leading leader of Amicus’ summary filed in the case for 20 state attorney generals, including California.

“And when they grab that gun, they hope they can track it down and understand where it came from and how it reached the hands of those who don’t have it,” he said.

So, despite allegations by people of gun rights that these almost complete kits have some fun at home and that they are building weapons like Glocks as if they were snapping the Lego set together, the reality is “used by violent criminals to avoid all the laws we have,” Platakin said.

Good news

After these horrifying discoveries came out, California began trying to police ghost guns and enacted laws in both 2022 and 2023 to reduce unregulated sales.

2022, Gov. GavinNewsom signed AB 1621. AB1621 was written by Rep. Mike Gipson (D-Carson). There was also a limit to who could purchase or use 3D printers and certain gun milling devices for the purpose of creating weapons. Then came SB 1327playing Texas law allowing civil lawsuits in abortion cases, changing the mindset of allowing civil lawsuits to enforce existing gun laws. The AB 1089 was further cracked with a 3D printed gun.

These laws have made a difference. From 2021 to 2023, law enforcement saw a 23% drop in searches for ghost guns used in crime, according to a report from the Attorney General’s Office.

Supremes weight

Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision marks a fundamental national turning point on the issue of the Ghost Guns, led by Trump’s appointee, Conservative Justice Neil Golsh. Domination Bondi vs. Vanderstok Essentially, it states that partially assembled gun kits are actually guns and should be treated that way under the Gun Control Act of 1968.

Gorsuch pointed out that in many opinions the kits only provide partial guns or require skills to assemble them, but at least one was very simple and the working weapons were put together in about 20 minutes.

“Using regular tools, a normal person can finish a frame in just a few minutes,” writes Gorsuch. “Really, the name of the kit says it all: “Buy the build chute.”

Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas were two opponents of the incident.

Thomas wrote in the ruling that the court was promoting “government overreach,” and perhaps they should have split the baby just by applying it to a really simple kit, rather than requiring more parts or skills.

“Congress could have allowed the ATF to regulate firearms or parts of any object to be easily converted. But it wasn’t. I will adhere to the words that Congress has enacted.”

But for most Americans, giving some restrictions on mail order guns doesn’t look like a government overreach, so I’m guessing, and Wednesday’s ruling is a big victory over public safety.

“Why are people used to people who physically abused their wives because they were convicted of domestic violence crimes where they could go to gun shows and buy the same guns they could not buy when they were assembled in gun shops?” Platkin said. “What do you think the person would do with that gun?”

Other things you should read:

Must see: The Supreme Court supports banning non-trackable “ghost guns” made from parts kits
What happened: Hegseth’s leak would have warned the enemy. The White House uses semantics to blur it.
LA Times Special: Beverly Hills seeks $400,000 in legal fees from the abortion provider that blocked the opening

Maintaining the golden
Anita Chhabria

Solidarity in PS Journalism. I love to see that.

Has this newsletter been forwarded to you? Sign up here Get it in your inbox.