Recommendation to request City Manager to work with the Long Beach Police Department to present a report to City Council on statistics and impacts of ghost guns; and, the feasibility of developing additional ordinances to criminalize the possession, sale, and/or manufacture of ghost guns and ghost gun parts.
All right, we. Announce the vote. Okay. All right. Item 29, please. Communication from Councilman Price. Councilman Austin Recommendation to request city manager to work with the Long Beach Police Department to present a report to City Council on Statistics and Impacts of Ghost Guns and the feasibility of developing additional ordinances to criminalize the possession, sale and or manufacture of ghost guns and ghost gun parts. Councilman Price. Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. And I believe our police department is here tonight to help do a presentation on this topic. So just a little bit of background on this topic. I am a member of the Public Safety Committee and I did request that this item addressing ghost guns specifically be presented to the Public Safety Committee. So and I started that process in January. And in late February, the committee heard a report on ghost guns. And the results of that presentation by the police department was eye opening. And frankly, in my opinion, one of the biggest public safety concerns facing our state right now. It may be facing other states, but I don't know the stats on other states. I just know that in the state of California, the number one public safety threat right now is ghost guns. So our police department brought back the presentation and staff presented to us some. Facts about ghost guns. And we talked a little bit about legislation that's going to be coming forth to the state for consideration. The item tonight that's before you has nothing to do with the state legislation. It really is just a report back for us about the feasibility of developing additional ordinances locally to criminalize possession, sale or manufacture of ghost guns. And I imagine that with this directive, city staff would go back then and work our police department, work with our city prosecutor to come up with potential legislation that we could take up in this area. Specific to go scans, those scans. A lot of people don't know what they are. And I know there's going to be a presentation by the police chief. Is that correct? Is there going to be a presentation tonight or. No? We weren't planning on a presentation tonight, but we can answer a couple of questions if there are some from the council. Okay. Sounds good. No problem at all. I know there was a presentation done at the Public Safety Committee on it, so it goes on. A lot of people don't know what they are, but they have. Obviously, there's no background checks required for ghost guns. There's no serial number required or on ghost guns. There's no mechanism, legal mechanism to obtain ghost guns. They're purchased online primarily. And we have seen just in the city of Long Beach alone a huge increase from 2020 to 2021 on the number of ghost guns that were seized in the city of Long Beach in 2021. We seized 185 ghost guns in the city of Long Beach as opposed to 83 seized in 2020. We had in terms of citywide shootings, 453 in 2021 and 396 in 2020. So we can see that there's an increase in shootings, but certainly a huge increase, double of ghost guns that are being used in some of the offenses that we're seeing. Unfortunately, the reality of ghost guns is that anyone can buy a ghost gun with no background check, making it easier for prohibited possessors or anyone intending to commit a crime to possess or access a gun. We've seen a number of California cities take important steps to increase enforcement on ghost guns, and I'm hoping that the council will join me tonight in requesting this report come back so that we can make a determination as a council whether or not to adopt some sections into our local city ordinance that address ghost guns specifically. I think the urgency of this item is clear in light of the events of the last few days, in light of the increase in gun violence and in light of the seriousness of gun violence and the impact that it has on victims and their families. And so I ask my council colleagues to support this item. Again, this item doesn't deal at all with state legislation. It's just talking about ghost guns and our efforts to legislate them and add more sanctions to the ordinances that can be adopted by municipalities to address ghost guns specifically. All right. Thank you, Councilman Austin. Thank you. And I second this this motion proudly. You know, gun violence is a it's a problem in our city. We're reading and hearing about gun violence every day. And they are real victims. They're impacted by by gun violence. And to the extent that we can minimize, eliminate access to these illegal guns or the manufacturing of these illegal guns, I think we'd be doing something tremendous. I I'm looking forward to this this report coming back, because I know we're going to be taxing our our police department to to be very innovative and and to solve something that no one has been able to solve up to this point with with an ordinance. But if we sit by and do nothing and we're not doing our justice to to the victims and we're not doing anything to improve public safety in our city. And so I give this this motion, my full support, and I say my colleagues do as well. Thanks. All right. Thank you. Is public comment on this? Yes, there are three people, Kathy. Family. Thank you. Brian Martinez and son, I can say thank you. Thank you, everybody. For being here. Let me start off with I am part of an organization. Parents of Murdered. Children. It's been around for 43 years. And I'm the leader of the Los Angeles chapter. Which covers all of L.A. County. I am not speaking. On behalf of the organization today. I am speaking on behalf of myself. Who've lost. My nephew. And a cousin to gun violence, and two other cousins were murdered in the harbor area. I say the organization that I am part of to validate that I. Am an advocate for survivors of. Homicide. And we need to take this very seriously. I'm going to throw a number out there. And I don't know if many of you know there are currently 5600 unsolved murders in the county of L.A.. Throw the factor of unaccountable, untraceable ghost guns and that number is going to increase. So I'm here to beg you to please do all that. You can do. So that I don't have to sit. Across the table. From another mother or a father or a brother or a child and listen to them year after year after year cry because. Somebody made a decision to take their life. My organization does not speak on gun control, but we're talking about illegal guns. So, yes, my organization. Is behind. This. This ordinance, we would say, yes, we got. To get these illegal guns. Off the street so that when a murder does occur. We can trace it back to whoever did. It and hold them accountable. For the murder. So I beg you to please keep that number in mind. I believe I'm. Preaching to the choir. I think you probably. All feel. The way you feel. I sat here and I listened about the. Martin Luther. King Park. Those kids. Need parks. So they're not on the computers. Later, trying to learn how to make ghost guns. Okay. That's the reality. Of where we're at. These kids have too. Much time on their. Hands. They don't have anybody watching over them. And they need. Good places to go so they don't. End up on this end of the spectrum. So I beg of you, please. I represent thousands of I sit on the National Board of Trustees for the organization. We represent thousands of homicide survivors across the country. But right here in L.A., there's quite a few. And I. Beg you to please do anything. And everything you possibly. Can. To get these guns off the street. Thank you very. Much. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Thank you, Chairman and Council. My name is Brian. I'm the language deputy for assembly member Mike Gibson of the 64th District. Mr. Gibson was pretty elated when he saw this would be in the agenda today and he wrote a letter and I will not worry it to the Council on this subject. Letter of Support for Council Item 22 383 Report on Ghost Guns and Feasibility of Ordinance Strengthening Enforcement. Good evening, Council. I applaud and fully support the City of Long Beach in its process to create a local law that would criminalize the production and possession of ghost gun parts. Despite reforms to regulate them, Ghost continue to be a pervasive issue for local governments across the U.S. So much so that President Biden and the Department of Justice have proposed the rule change to federally redefine the term firearm to encompass its parts and kits such that they are regulated and require a background background check and serialization. Two days ago, we had a mass shooting just blocks away from the California state capitol. President Biden has once again called on for more reforms, this time for all of California to formalize a statewide band on ghost guns. Let me be clear this isn't a new issue. After numerous attempts, I was able to propel AB 879 into law. This California law required a state background check for individuals seeking to purchase firearms and receivers. It requires the Department of Justice to electronically approve the purchase or transfer of firearm parts through a licensed vendor. It also requires the sale of firearm frames and receivers to be conducted by a licensed firearm precursor parts vendor. Unfortunately, as the problem has worsened, it's clear that a more aggressive framework is necessary to prevent the continued proliferation of these weapons into our communities. Therefore, I stepped up to the plate and introduced just this year, AB 1621, which will completely ban ghost guns in every community statewide. Support from our city of Long Beach is critical in making this band a reality for every community in our state and joining alongside of other communities like San Diego, San Francisco and Oakland, which have levied citywide bands that make it illegal for any resident to possess or buy these weapons. We need all hands on deck to eradicate gun violence with our communities, wildfire in the 64th District and those alike. And as the assembly member always says, it takes a village. Thank you very much and I appreciate the opportunity to speak. All right. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Listen, I can play in the audience. He's the last speaker that concludes public comment on this item. All right. Back behind the real Councilman Price. Thank you, vice mayor. And I know I apologize. I thought the presentation that we had at public safety would be shown tonight. And that was my fault for my lack of clarity. But I'm not sure if the camera can pick up on this. But a ghost gun is just it's it can be made through a 3-D printer. It can be made using plastic. And now there are 3-D printers that can actually make make it using metal. But it's just different gun pieces that are molded and printed. And the most common model that we see right now is our Glocks that are made. And the interesting stat that I found in Long Beach last year was that of the ghost guns that were found to have been used in crimes. Two were in homicides, 21 in assaults, ten in batteries are threats criminal threats PC for 22, as we call them for and robbery carjackings, two in sexual assault, four in domestic violence, four in non-injury shootings. And this was the most interesting stat that I found, 116 were sold, possessed or illegally carried. That just means there's people, more and more people walking around armed with ghost guns, which to me was the scariest stat found property. There were five suicides. There were four. That's a particularly hard reality for me to understand because you can purchase these online with no background checks. And I don't know how many of you know of children who were youth who committed suicide just in the last few years as a result of COVID and used a gun to effectuate that intent. And I do know a youth that that happened to a very good friend of ours. And so the fact that they're easy, so easy to access is really concerning to me. I try really hard not to exaggerate things, but I will tell you, this is the number one ghost guns are the number one public safety threat facing our state because they're so easy to acquire. And all of the measures that we've put into place to make sure that the wrong people don't have access to guns are completely eliminated through ghost guns because anyone can purchase a ghost gun. And so I think we need to do everything we can as a city to try to regulate and sanction the possession of ghost guns and ghost gun parts. And I look forward to our police department coming back with a report that hopefully covers the same topics we covered at public safety and beyond. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you as well. We already had council comment. Okay. Let's go ahead. Talk to our vote, please. Councilmember under. Motion is carried.