ghost gun | The Zelman Partisans

In a sane world, this suit would be dismissed instantly, with prejudice.

New Jersey Sues California Company Over ‘Ghost Guns’
New Jersey’s attorney general has sued a California company that sells gun parts that can be turned into working firearms.

The suit announced Friday alleges that U.S. Patriot Armory violated New Jersey’s consumer fraud laws when it advertised and sold gun parts to an undercover investigator last month.

The investigator bought parts for an AR-15 assault rifle.

New Jersey bans purchases of gun parts for use in making firearms with no serial numbers, called “ghost guns.” It’s also a crime to possess an unregistered assault firearm in the state.

First off, a nonfirearm transaction in California is subject to New Jersey law? I don’t think so.

There are a couple more problems. Let’s take a look at the law. The relevant section is this:

Purchasing firearm parts to manufacture untraceable firearm. In addition to any other penalty imposed under current law, a person who purchases separately or as a kit any combination of parts from which a firearm may be readily assembled with the purpose to manufacture an untraceable firearm is guilty of a crime of the third degree. Notwithstanding the provisions of N.J.S.2C:1-8 or any other law, a conviction under this subsection shall not merge with a conviction for any other criminal offense and the court shall impose separate sentences upon a violation of this subsection and any other criminal offense.

Fine; it’s unlawful for someone in New Jersey to purchase the parts. Sort of. It says nothing about the seller.

But the intent counts, too. The intent of the purchaser must be to assemble an assault firearm. Was it the intent of the undercover investigator to assemble such a firearm? Please say, “Yes,” because for once they didn’t include a law enforcement exemption. The investigator should be charged.

Ah, but what if the purchaser of parts lawfully own a firearm, and he wants to stock replacement parts for repairs? At least in this law, that’s perfectly lawful. Intent matters; mens rea.

For this to fly at all, the investigator would have had to specifically tell U.S. Patriot Armory that he was buying the parts with the intent of violating New Jersey law, making it a co-conspirator. Otherwise, for all the company knows, it was selling to a licensed individual building a lawful serialized gun, or repairing one.

Sadly, this is no longer a sane world, and the courts exemplify that.

Carl is an unpaid TZP volunteer. If you found this post useful, please consider dropping something in his tip jar. He could really use the money, what with truck repairs and recurring bills. And the rabbits need feed. Truck insurance, lest I be forced to sell it. Click here to donate via PayPal.
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I’ve been writing for The Zelman Partisans, and editing the weekly newsletter, for almost two and a half years. It involves reading a lot of news, commentary, and… BS. Every freaking day.

A lot of the same BS. Every freaking day. The same lies, the same false claims; over and over and over and…

Yeah. I’m burning out a little.

Lately, it’s been “bump-fire stocks turn guns into automatic weapons” and “OMG! Untraceable ‘ghost guns’.”

Case in point: Last week, I caught the Atlanta Journal–Constitution in a claim that a producer built an assault rifle. Most likely, Josh Wade built a semiautomatic AR-pattern rifle, which is perfectly legal in Georgia (and most of America), but…

The article very specifically called it an assault rifle. “Assault rifle” has a specific meaning, and happens to be a machinegun under the National Firearms Act of 1934. Building one requires a license. Building one for personal use is now illegal, and has been since 1986 under the misnamed Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986. Private possession of a newly manufactured machinegun is illegal. AJC.com’s Ken Foskett made a very specific claim that Wade had committed multiple federal felonies good for an extended Club Fed vacation.

I pointed that out. It being the notoriously anti-RKBA AJC, I assumed that they were deliberately conflating “assault rifle” with “assault weapon,” and by extension any semiautomatic rifle they don’t like. Thus, I also mentioned that “assault weapon” is a term with no legal meaning in Georgia.

Partial victory: They changed the story to expunge any mention of the legally troublesome term “assault rifle.”

What they did not do was publish an acknowledgement of the “error.”

Think about that. A reader told them that building an assault rifle as described is unlawful. Foskett said in email that a fellow journalist told him the same thing. You’d think he’d publish an ass-covering note like so:

“This article originally referred to the rifle as an “assault rifle.” We discovered that, through our ignorance, we used the wrong term. An “assault rifle” is a specific, highly regulated, and taxed firearm, and is not what producer Josh Wade built and had tested. We apologize for the error.”

Nope.

Rather than admit an error that might draw attention to their first claim, they decided to scrub the article — text, graphics, and URL — of any mention of “assault rifle.” But again — and oddly — no correction they didn’t build an assault rifle.

Is that what Wade really constructed? And they just want the report to go away before authorities notice?

I’ve been making a hobby of contacting such writers to correct their less-than-accurate claims. I’m tired of that. I get ignored, or lied to. What I will now do is take their claims at face value.

Foskett said Wade unlawfully built an assault rifle. He hasn’t actually denied it; he hid the claim. I’ll believe him.

And I’ll believe it every other time some dumbass “journalist” makes a similar claim, like this guy who says he built an unserialized Glock-type pistol. In California.

What’s the big deal? In California, one is lawfully required to serialize any homebuilt firearm. You do not yet have to register it with the state, but you have to apply an ATF-compliant serial number.

“If you do finish your 80% lower before the July 1, 2018 deadline, you’ll still have to engrave it with a valid serial number (one which meets the ATF’s requirements) but you won’t have to report the receiver or the serial number to the California DOJ or the ATF.”

Some people believe that once you know about an unlawful activity, you have a civic obligation to report it. It wouldn’t really be “malicious compliance”. Just… helpful.

CBS’ Carter Evans, in creating his “ghost glock,” made a point of saying nothing is serialized; even claims it isn’t required. Ignorantia juris non excusat.

One may contact the California Office of the Attorney General here. If you don’t want to use the web contact form:

Telephone Number

General Information
Phone: (916) 227-7527
Fax: (916) 227-7480

Bureau of Firearms Addresses

Mail may be sent to the Bureau of Firearms at the following address:

Bureau of Firearms
P.O. Box 820200
Sacramento, CA 94203-0200

If you’re in need of a little cash, Los Angeles has a convenient snitch system, and is offering a “1,000 reward to anyone who provides information that leads to the recovery of an illegal firearm>.”

In the case of Foskett and Wade’s assault rifle, that’s a federal matter. The ATF conveniently provides contact information, too.

ATF Hotlines:

Report Illegal Firearms Activity
1-800-ATF-GUNS (1-800-283-4867)

ATFTips@atf.gov

ReportIt® mobile app, available on both Google Play and the Apple App Store.

www.reportit.com

Depending on the situation, you might want to consider disposable pre-paid phones, anonymous email, and/or free VPNs.

If nothing else, Carter, Wade, and Foskett might learn which lies to leave out of their stories, as they enjoy their law enforcement scrutiny.

Carl is an unpaid TZP volunteer. If you found this post useful, please consider dropping something in his tip jar.