County Partners With Giffords To File First Lawsuit Against Ghost Gun Company
The County of San Diego and national gun safety group GIFFORDS Law Center have partnered on a lawsuit against Defense Distributed who sells its gun manufacturing device illegally in California. Defense Distributed has done a bait and switch on a product they were banned from selling by deceptively giving the same product a new name and package.
The partnership between the County and GIFFORDS is a direct result of a policy led and passed by San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer in June 2022 to seek out opportunities to initiate litigation against gun manufacturers. This is the first lawsuit being filed as a result of the policy.
“Egregious actions by a greedy company to evade California gun laws will not be tolerated. It is in the best interest of San Diego County families and children to do everything legally possible to stop Defense Distributed from producing and selling these ghost gun manufacturing devices,” said Supervisor Lawson-Remer, who serves as Vice Chair of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. “I truly thank GIFFORDS for its partnership in this lawsuit. Together we are working to keep people safe, and hold manufacturers of these horrible gun-making machines accountable.”
See the full Superior Court filing here.
Defense Distributed was selling the “Ghost Gunner” in California, but continues to sell the illegal manufacturing machine as the “Coast Runner.”
Billy Clark, Senior Litigation Attorney, GIFFORDS Law Center: “Changing an illegal gun-making machine’s name and paint color doesn’t make it legal. Defense Distributed, Ghost Gunner, and Coast Runner have not hidden that this banned machine is used to make guns. In fact, they showed it off at the gun industry’s SHOT show, the largest firearms trade show in the country run by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the gun industry’s trade association. We’re proud to have partnered with San Diego County and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP to stop these reckless companies from selling their product that will endanger the lives of Californians.”