Excerpted from Los Angeles Times
By George Skelton
This was a gun control bill that made so much sense that the National Rifle Assn. didn’t even oppose it. Neither did any gun lobby. No legislator — not even a Republican — voted against it.
The measure adds so-called ghost guns to the weapons that can be seized by police from someone who’s “red-flagged” by a judge. In many cases, this is a gunowner under a restraining order because of domestic violence. Or maybe he’s threatening people and talking about wanting to kill.
Ghost guns generally are homemade from parts ordered online. They’re usually unregistered and untraceable. And until this bill, they weren’t among the firearms that could be seized by police.
“If it looks like a gun and shoots like a gun, it should be treated like a gun,” says the bill’s author, Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Laguna Beach). “We need to close this loophole. When I found out we hadn’t already, I was shocked and horrified.
“Ghost guns are turning up at crime scenes all over the country.”