“Eight men were charged Thursday with making and distributing dozens of firearms, many of them assault-style weapons illegally equipped with silencers, in what federal officials are calling one of the biggest takedowns in California’s Central Valley,” news.yahoo.com reports. “Undercover agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives purchased or seized more than 230 firearms and silencers. Many are known as ‘ghost guns’ because they lack serial numbers and can be sold without background checks or transfer documents.” And now the law enforcement hysteria and anti-gun agitprop . . .
“Firearms trafficking such as that alleged in this indictment is one of the primary sources of crime guns found on the streets, and the manufacture of untraceable, unserialized firearms hampers criminal investigations, putting the public at greater risk,” U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner said at a news conference. ‘High-capacity assault rifles, with silencers but without serial numbers, are some of the most lethal weapons that criminals can get their hands on.'”
THIS is the source of illegal guns fueling Golden State gang bangers? The vast majority of criminals use handguns when committing a firearms-related crime. And California cops depend on firearms tracing to lower “gun violence” like Jessica Ashley depends on her English degree to make a living. And everyone knows unserialized guns are WAY more lethal than serialized firearms. [/sarc]
Luckily, the cops arrested these bad boy backyard gunsmithing dudes before they could ramp up ghost gun production. Oh wait . . .
Wagner said the group ramped up its manufacture of the weapons after undercover agents first contacted them in February. Handguns were also purchased or seized. Wagner said he can’t recall as many guns being seized in one operation in his 20 years as a federal prosecutor.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (And Really Big Fires): manufacturing firearms-related crime since 1886. [h/t JA]