Everytown for Gun Safety interprets the word "gun safety" to mean gun control. That's all it's about and all the group has ever been about. As such, it's not shocking that they're thrilled about Washington state passing a "ghost gun" bill.
Unfortunately for them, there's an awful lot they get wrong about it.
Whether these errors are intentional or not is something that I leave to you, dear reader, to decide, but I know where I stand on this, and it's not a favorable view of what they said.
Let's look at what they say about it.
Today, Governor Bob Ferguson signed HB 2320 into law, landmark legislation to strengthen Washington’s ghost gun law and address the growing threat of untraceable, 3D-printed firearms. With the governor’s signature, Washington continues to lead the nation in advancing innovative solutions to prevent gun violence and keep communities safe.
So-called ghost guns still make up just a tiny fraction of the firearms used in violent crime. Further, a study that looked at these privately made firearms and tried to link them to an increase in suicides also found that there was absolutely no noticeable increase in the homicide rate.
What that means is that this is a non-issue when it comes to violent crime. Even if guns are the problem, it's not a case of a privately made firearm or nothing for these criminals, but a choice between a "ghost gun" or a traditionally manufactured firearm, thus even if gun control works, this wouldn't make anyone safer.
And since gun control doesn't work...
Ghost guns are unserialized, untraceable firearms that can be manufactured at home without a background check, allowing minors and other prohibited individuals to bypass Washington’s gun safety laws. Rapidly evolving 3D printing technology and digital blueprints have accelerated this threat, making it easier than ever to produce illegal weapons outside of the legal system.
HB 2320 closes these technological loopholes by regulating the digital blueprints that allow gun printing and by prohibiting the use of 3D printers and CNC milling machines to manufacture firearms and machine gun conversion devices. By bringing these DIY weapons under the same standards as traditional firearms, the law ensures that investigators are no longer left at a “dead end” when untraceable weapons are recovered at crime scenes.
Gun tracing is often brought up as the prime issue with these guns. Police are unable to trace the guns to the purchaser, thus stymying their investigations.
Except that there's never been a single instance we can find where gun tracing made or broke an investigation. That's partially because all that it does is trace a gun to the original purchaser through the required ATF paperwork at gun stores. Once a gun is sold, the trail often ends, especially in states that don't have universal background checks.
Tracing also doesn't do a whole lot of good when a gun is stolen.
Let's say your Glock is stolen, then recovered at the scene of a homicide. The police will trace the serial number--assuming it hasn't been scratched out--and then come to you to ask about your gun. You tell them it was stolen, maybe give them the report number you got when you reported the theft to police, and they go about their merry way, still without a damn clue of who did what.
Privately made firearms might be a "dead end," but so are a lot of traditionally manufactured firearms used in violent crime.
“3D-printed guns are just as scary as they sound: untraceable weapons that allow criminals to thwart law enforcement and make a firearm with the push of a button,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “With this new law, Washington is leading the nation in the fight against this emerging threat, and taking common-sense measures to prevent people from using 3D printers as a way to avoid a background check.”
Feinblatt is a moron.
Making a gun with 3D printed components is a bit more complicated than that. Sure, you can make the receiver of a gun--what the ATF considers the firearm--but you can't hurt anyone with that unless you do a whole lot more work than pushing a button.
And they're not as scary as they sound. They're just another avenue for making a gun. Considering how common property crimes are in this country, many of which involve the theft of firearms, how the gun is made isn't nearly as scary as people taking them and using them for criminal purposes.
There's also nothing "common sense" about this, either. We know most guns trafficked are still traditionally-made firearms. We know they're stolen or obtained via some other illicit means. All this does is impact good, decent people who just want to make a gun on their own for whatever reason. It won't stop criminals from making them.
“Untraceable guns don’t just bypass laws, they cost lives,” said Ju Namkung, a volunteer with the Washington chapter of Moms Demand Action. “We’re deeply grateful to Governor Ferguson for signing this bill and to Representative Salahuddin and the lawmakers who worked tirelessly to get it across the finish line. This law will undoubtedly make our communities safer and we’re proud to live in a state that is putting public safety first.”
Take a look again at where I pointed out that the homicide rates aren't higher even when "ghost gun" recoveries are higher in a particular place. These weapons have absolutely no impact on community safety, and that's a report written about in The Trace, an anti-gun newsroom.
Seriously, at every point, there's nothing here but leftist, anti-gun talking points that aren't backed up by anything even resembling a fact. It's high on emotion, high on rhetoric, and low on reality.
Kind of like everything else the left engages in these days, really.