CNN decided to break the new information about the ghost guns used in the Philadelphia shooting over the weekend on Thursday’s CNN News Central by blaming the ghost gun manufacturers and distributers for the shooting. In addition to blaming these companies for this shooting, anchor Sara Sidner hosted former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on the show to essentially blame these companies for illegal gun ownership as well, since apparently they were “specifically…marketed to evade the law.”
Sidner began the segment by briefly describing the shooting itself, as well as breaking the new information about the ghost guns that were used in the crime. She then described ghost guns, being careful to note specifically that this type of firearm “doesn’t have any markings, and is not traceable.”
As if having a serial number would have somehow stopped the shooting?
Sidner then brought McCabe on the show to discuss the fact that “the City of Philadelphia is suing the two largest suppliers of ghost guns,” Polymer80, Inc. and JSD Supply. McCabe called the lawsuit “an admirable step” to “start to address” the issue, since Biden’s federal ban had been overthrown.
This lawsuit, in principle, makes no sense. Making firearms has always been legal in America, and possession of these firearms when completed is also legal, according to the Second Amendment. Suing a company for selling a product that enabled these things wasn’t right, even if those guns were used for bad things.
McCabe also railed about the process for obtaining a ghost gun, mentioning the fact that the kits for making them could be purchased online and claiming that “really anyone with any sort of mechanical ability” could use the kit to construct a gun:
And just to be clear, for your viewers, ghost guns are not just unserialized, they are actually sold as a kit of the—of a—all of the necessary parts of a firearm. It comes to your house, through the internet, or you can buy them at gun shows and other places, and then really anyone with any sort of mechanical ability can take those parts and turn it into a fully functioning lethal firearm. And it has no serial number, and cannot be traced.
In reality, these guns required quite a bit of skill and some specific equipment to assemble, not merely the simple task that these two seemed to think it was.
Sidner and McCabe even went so far as to claim that these ghost guns facilitated crime, both because “they aren’t traceable” and because “there is absolutely no background check” that a person must go through to get them. They falsely asserted that ghost guns were “developed and now marketed to evade the law” and “designed to evade that regimen” of gun safety regulations.
And yet, amidst all of those claims, the websites of both companies being sued advise the buyer to follow the firearm regulations in his area. JSD Supply disclaimed for the buyer to “always make sure you know your local firearms laws for your own protection.” Polymer80’s website included a disclaimer at the bottom of the page that read, “By using this website, or using or purchasing a Polymer80 product, you affirm that you have verified that you may possess, purchase, and use Polymer80 products under all applicable federal, state, and local laws.”
Rather than seeming like a place that was “perfect” for criminals to obtain guns, these websites seemed to be places that cared a lot about the law, and encouraged its customers to follow all pertinent regulations.
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Transcript of the segment below (click Expand):
CNN News Central
7/6/23
10:33:02 AM ET
SARA SIDNER: The suspect was arraigned on murder charges yesterday. At the time of his arrest, police say that the firearms found in his possession, an AR-style rifle and a handgun, both were ghost guns.
A ghost gun is a weapon that doesn’t have any markings, and is not traceable. In the past three years, ghost guns’ confiscations in Philadelphia have increased 300 percent, and now the City of Philadelphia is suing the two largest suppliers of ghost guns.
Joining me now to discuss this, former Deputy Director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe. Thank you so much for—for being here.
Do you think that the city's lawsuit could have a real impact on trying to get the ghost guns off of the streets?
ANDREW MCCABE: Well, Sara, we don't—we don’t know yet, but I think that it’s a—it’s an admirable step, and it’s one of the few things that mayors of big cities can do to—to start to address this, because obviously we haven’t addressed it on a federal level.
And just to be clear, for your viewers, ghost guns are not just unserialized, they are actually sold as a kit of the—of a—all of the necessary parts of a firearm. It comes to your house, through the internet, or you can buy them at gun shows and other places, and then really anyone with any sort of mechanical ability can take those parts and turn it into a fully functioning lethal firearm. And it has no serial number, and cannot be traced.
And just to put some perspective on it, in Philadelphia, 2019, they seized five of these ghost guns in the commissions of crimes. Last year, there were somewhere around 590, so, the use of these kits, these ghost guns, has gone through the roof.
And big city mayors have got to try to do something to limit the number of guns falling into the hands of people who cannot lawfully possess them, and so the lawsuit is one—one step in that direction.
SIDNER: Would you say that, you know, from the law enforcement perspective, that ghost guns are the perfect—perfect firearm for someone who wants to commit any illegal act, because they aren’t traceable?
MCCABE: That is absolutely right. They’re perfect for people who the law specifically prohibits from owning or possessing firearms. You—there is absolutely no background check that you have to subject yourself to, to buy a kit, a box of parts, over the internet. So they are almost designed and, in many cases, specifically marketed to people who cannot pass the federal firearms background system process.
So there—this is a literally a product that is developed and is now marketed to evade the law, to evade normal handgun safety regulations that we all know and accept as a part of Second Amendment exercise in this country. These things are—are designed to evade that regimen, and they—and they should be stopped.
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