California congressman leads 135 lawmakers in ghost gun letter to Pres. Biden
SACRAMENTO -- California lawmakers are calling on the Biden Administration to crack down on homemade ghost guns by holding manufacturers responsible.
It's often easy for anyone to buy gun parts online to piece together an unserialized and untraceable weapon, all the while skirting a background check.
"They're making firearms and they're shooting and they're killing people," said Congressman Mike Thompson, D-Yolo.
Thompson and other representatives led 135 members of Congress in penning a letter to President Joe Biden wanting gun manufacturers held accountable for ghost guns.
"If you are a danger to yourself or to others, if you're dangerously mentally ill, if you're a criminal, you should not be able to get your mitts on a gun," said Thompson.
Stockton is still healing after living in fear of a serial killer. It's one of many cases where investigators say the suspect used an illegal untraceable firearm to carry out the murders. CBS13 asked Thompson about gun rights groups raising concerns over manufacturers being held responsible when they're not the ones who pulled the trigger.
"I have one word for these groups and that's, 'tough.' We need these rules," said Thompson.
Also chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, Thompson is calling on the Biden Administration to strengthen federal enforcement on ghost guns considering he's not confident it will get done in Congress.
"Well, I'd like to see congress have the intestinal fortitude to pass legislation that would prohibit this nonsense from taking place. But as you know, as long as they have this 60-vote rule in the Senate, we're never going to get a bill like that passed," said Thompson.
Thompson says that's why he wants to see the President direct the DOJ and the ATF to promulgate rules that hold manufacturers responsible in an effort to stop providing criminals with firearms.