San Diego County is suing a company it says flouted state law by selling milling machines primarily used to create parts used to assemble untraceable “ghost guns.”
The suit accuses Defense Distributed of renaming and repainting its milling machine “Ghost Gunner,” which is banned for sale in California, instead calling the device “Coast Runner” and illegally marketing and selling the machine. ‘State.
“The ‘Coast Runner’ is actually the Ghost Gunner with a new coat of paint. It has the same internal designs, the same features and is marketed for the same purpose: the illegal production of untraceable ghost weapons,” the suit claims, calling the new product “a mere alter ego” of the old one.
Filed Thursday in San Diego Superior Court, the complaint asks a judge to order the company to stop sales of the device in California and impose fines for each day the county alleges the law of the State was violated.
County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, who has championed several gun safety regulations, said Friday she found the situation “egregious,” noting that the company, in a previous lawsuit, ” had already been informed that it could not sell its deadly machines in California.”
“They just put new packaging on it, put lipstick on a pig and moved on,” she said.
Asked to comment on the lawsuit, the Texas-based company said in an email: “Defense Distributed has always followed and complied with California law, even when its law is illegal. »
State law prohibits the sale or marketing of CNC – computer numerically controlled – milling machines whose sole or primary function is to make firearms. The suit alleges that Defense Distributed was “well aware of California’s law regarding the machines, noting that the company filed a federal lawsuit challenging the law when it was passed several years ago.”
This legal challenge failed. Shortly afterward, according to the lawsuit, a “new” milling machine called the Coast Runner appeared on the market.
The county’s complaint alleges that Defense Distributed is trying to stop lawmakers from banning the sale of milling machines — which cut metal into shapes — in California. The suit alleges that the two products have identical specifications and says that California customers who tried to do so with Ghost Gunner were told they would get Coast Runner.
The lawsuit alleges that the company markets and sells Coast Runner “knowing full well that it can be – and in fact is intended to be – used to manufacture firearms.”
Ghost guns are do-it-yourself firearms, assembled by hand, sometimes from individual parts in pre-packaged kits. For several years, the parts were not classified as firearms and therefore did not have serial numbers, making them difficult, if not impossible, for law enforcement to track. California now requires parts to have a serial number before being sold. The federal Department of Justice has also decided to require serial numbers on unfinished parts, but this decision is contested.
The county filed the lawsuit in partnership with the Giffords Law Center, the legal arm of the popular gun control advocacy group, which is handling the county’s case on a pro bono basis. Billy Clark, the center’s lead attorney, said in a statement that his organization is partnering with both the county and the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP “to stop these reckless companies from selling their products that will endanger the lives of Californians.
“Changing the name and paint color of an illegal weapons manufacturing machine does not make it legal,” Clark said.
The new lawsuit is the first action taken by the county after the Board of Supervisors agreed in 2022 to pursue gun manufacturers. Lawson-Remer said it took some time to research and do due diligence.
“But I think it’s a pretty egregious situation, where you have a gun manufacturer selling machines designed to make guns in people’s homes and basements. And they do it without accountability,” she said.
In recent years, the Board of Supervisors has moved to toughen local gun laws.
In 2022, he passed an order prohibiting individuals from possessing ghost guns and requiring all gun owners to keep their guns locked up or under lock and key. Earlier this year, the board supported Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed 28th Amendment, which seeks to add strict regulations to gun ownership.
The two votes, 3 to 2, were split along party lines.
California Daily Newspapers
