A group of 10 individuals were arrested and charged during a sting operation on a homemade gun ring in Hollywood, California.
Federal law recognizes homemade guns as legal to make but illegal to sell. The homemade gun ring was allegedly making and selling firearms.
KCRA reports that Los Angeles detectives and ATF agents “purchased dozens of so-called ‘ghost guns'” during a six-month undercover op. The firearms included homemade handguns and rifles.
Once a search warrant was executed agents seized the machines used to make the guns, “high capacity” magazines. and “more than three pounds of methamphetamine.”
ATF special agent in charge Bill McMullan said he is seeing an upward trend in gang use of homemade guns. He said, “Criminals are making their own weapons because they aren’t able to buy them legally.”
It should be noted that California law requires a serial number to be affixed to any homemade gun, so the guns allegedly being made by the Hollywood ring were in violation of that law as well. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the serial number requirement into law in on July 22, 2016.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.