Anti-gun New York Attorney General Letitia James used Wednesday—the first day of “Gun Violence Awareness Month”—to launch what her office is calling a “crack down on firearms sellers illegally selling and advertising gun parts that are used to create homemade, untraceable firearms, known as ghost guns.”
In a news release, James’ office said it “found that 28 firearms sellers across the state advertised and/or offered to sell one or more unfinished frames, receivers, and/or kits containing both” as the result of an investigation. This investigation “found that a majority of these gun sellers were located in Western New York and on Long Island.”
New York law prohibits the sale, exchange, or disposal of unfinished frames and receivers, the AG’s office said. James’ office sent cease-and-desist letters to all 28 dealers, and ordered these businesses to immediately stop advertising and selling the prohibited parts. She also warned about possible “legal consequences, including imprisonment, if they do not comply.”
“Ghost guns are fueling the flames of the gun violence epidemic, and we will not sit idly as they proliferate in our streets and devastate communities,” James said in a prepared statement. “Across the nation, too many lives are being lost because of these untraceable and unregistered weapons that anyone can get their hands on without a background check. We are not going to wait for another tragedy, my office is taking action to crack down on gun sellers that are illegally advertising ghost guns. If gun sellers do not comply with the law, they will face the full force of my office.”
In the aftermath of the deadly mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket last month, and the more recent attack on an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, gun control advocates are stepping up their efforts. James is the official who filed a federal lawsuit against the National Rifle Association, and actually indicated during her campaign she planned to take on the national gun rights organization.
According to the news release from James’ office, “The OAG’s investigation found that most of these firearms sellers advertised the prohibited unfinished receivers, frames, and kits online or at gun shows,” and on their websites “with some allowing consumers to buy online and others telling consumers to call and ask for the price.”
“Today’s enforcement action is the result of the Jose Webster Untraceable Firearms Act and the Scott J. Beigel Unfinished Receiver Act, which recently came into effect and criminalizes the sale of ghost guns and requires gunsmiths to register and serialize all such firearms,” the OAG’s office said.
Nine of these businesses are in Western New York, six on Long Island, five in Central New York, four in the Hudson Valley, two in the Southern Tier, and one in the Capital Region.
Unfinished receivers and frames, also known as “80 percenters,” do not have serial numbers. They can allegedly “be used to make untraceable guns, or ghost guns, at home using basic tools.”
“For too long, ghost guns have been haunting our streets and taking lives. I have been warning about these dangerous gun kits for years, and we must take more aggressive action now to stop them from further proliferating,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), a perennial Capitol Hill anti-gunner. “The new federal rule issued by the Department of Justice earlier this spring will help keep ghost guns off our streets, but there is still more to be done. That’s why I’m proud to support Attorney General James in cracking down on New York gun dealers who are illegally selling and advertising ghost gun parts. The time is right now to take action on these ghost guns because they are too easy to build, too hard to trace, and too dangerous to ignore.”
The news release quoted several other anti-gunners, and noted “To date, Attorney General James has taken more than 3,000 firearms, including dozens of ghost guns, out of communities through gun buyback events and takedowns of violent drug and crime rings since taking office in 2019.”
