If the speed limit is 25 MPH, drawing a “1” on the road sign doesn’t make it legal to drive 125 in a school zone. Yet gun manufacturers are following a similar scheme, hoping that a new paint job — literally – will let them defy common-sense gun safety laws we’ve fought to pass in the County of San Diego.

I have four words for these shady dealers of death: not on my watch.

A Paint Job and Con Job All in One Package

This week, the County of San Diego and national gun safety group Giffords Law

Center partnered on a lawsuit against Defense Distributed, a company that is illegally selling its at-home ghost gun manufacturing device in California. 

This was such an important story, the LA Times took notice of what we’re doing in San Diego County, and featured us. Read the LA Times version of the story here.  

Defense Distributed has done a bait and switch on a product they know they are banned from selling in California – deceptively rebranding their “Ghost Gunner” machine as the “Coast Runner,” hoping that a new name and color scheme will make selling their ghost gun equipment an okay thing to do.

Seriously. You can’t make this stuff up. This is absolutely egregious.

The idea that you could take the same exact product that is designed to kill people, put a different packaging on it, and suddenly it’s not lethal and not illegal? That is just offensive.

We Fought for This Law – Now We’re Using It

We’re taking Defense Distributed to court because they continue to flout the law. Their machines have been outlawed for their ability to transform metal pieces into homemade, untraceable firearms, including semi automatic weapons like AR-15s and AK-47s. 

Ghost guns have been used in many mass shootings - including the deadly shooting in the Gaslamp Quarter in 2021 – and they are a threat to the safety of our communities.

Companies that profit off of death and destruction are going to continue making money unless we stand up and fight back.

That’s what this lawsuit is about: pushing back against these aggressive and growing marketing tactics that make it easier for anyone to make a gun in their own home. 

Thanks to your grassroots organizing, we have legislative and legal tools to confront gun manufacturers whose illegal products harm our communities. 

We were able to file this lawsuit because the Board of Supervisors approved two

policies I introduced in 2022. These policies prevent the possession and distribution of illegal ghost guns and authorize the County to explore lawsuits against gun manufacturers to hold them accountable. 

Since we approved these policies, three times more ghost guns have been removed from the streets compared with the three prior years.

I am committed to doing everything legally possible to stop Defense Distributed from producing and selling these ghost gun manufacturing devices in California. 

Free Helmet, Great Conversation

Speaking of safety, join me next week to talk about bicycle safety and get a free helmet from Scripps Health for you and your school aged child!

Our friends from the San Diego Bicycle Coalition will join us in Carlsbad to provide useful tips and information to help keep you and your family safe.   

• When: Wednesday May15th, 2024, at 6:00PM 
• Where: La Costa Paloma Apartments (Community Room) 1953 Dove Lane, Carlsbad CA 92008

RSVP here!

Thank you to our co-sponsors: Scripps Health, the San Diego Bicycle Coalition, and Community Housing Works!

In Service, 

Terra