Rebranded 'ghost gun' machine is being sold illegally in California, says county lawsuit

San Diego County is suing a company it says is flouting state law by selling milling machines primarily used to create parts used to assemble untraceable "ghost guns."

The suit accuses Defense Distributed of slapping a new name and paint job on its "Ghost Gunner" milling machine, which is barred from sale in California, instead calling the device "Coast Runner" and illegally marketing and selling in it the state.

"The 'Coast Runner' is in fact the Ghost Gunner with a new coat of paint. It has the same internal designs, the same features, and is being marketed for the same purpose: the illegal production of untraceable ghost guns," the suit alleges, calling the new product a "mere alter ego" of the old.

Filed in San Diego Superior Court on Thursday, the suit is asking a judge to order the company to halt sales of the device in California and levy fines for every day the county alleges state law was violated.

County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, who has championed several gun-safety regulations, said Friday she found the situation "egregious," noting the company, from a previous lawsuit, "had already been told that they couldn't sell their death machines in California."

"They just kind of put new packaging on it, put some lipstick on a pig and kept going," she said.

Asked for comment on the lawsuit, the Texas-based company said in an email: "Defense Distributed has always followed and respected California law, even when its law is illegal."

State law bars selling or marketing CNC — computer numerical control — milling machines with the sole or primary function of making guns. The suit alleges Defense Distributed was "well aware of California law regarding the machines, noting that the company had filed a federal suit challenging the law when it passed a few years ago.

That legal challenge failed. Soon after, the lawsuit alleges, a "new" milling machine dubbed Coast Runner popped onto the market.

The county's complaint alleges Defense Distributed is trying to make an end run around the Legislature's intent to bar the sale of the milling machines — which cut metal into shapes — in California. The suit alleges the two products have identical specifications and says that California customers who tried to by Ghost Gunner were instead told they would get Coast Runner.

The lawsuit alleges that the company markets and sells Coast Runner "knowing full well that it can be — and in fact is intended to be — used to manufacture firearms."

Ghosts guns are do-it-yourself firearms assembled by hand, sometimes from parts in prepackaged kits. For several years, the parts were not classified as guns so they have no serial numbers, making them difficult — if not impossible — for law enforcement to track. California now requires the parts have serial numbers before they are sold. The federal Department of Justice has also moved to require serial numbers on unfinished parts, but that is being challenged.

The county filed the lawsuit in partnership with Giffords Law Center, the legal arm of the well-known gun control advocacy group, which is handling the county's case pro bono. Billy Clark, the center's senior litigation attorney, said in a statement that his organization is teaming with both the county and law firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP "to stop these reckless companies from selling their product that will endanger the lives of Californians.”

“Changing an illegal gun-making machine’s name and paint color doesn’t make it legal," Clark said.

The new suit is the first action the county has taken after the Board of Supervisors agreed in 2022 to sue gun makers. Lawson-Remer said it took some time to do research and due diligence.

"But I think this is a situation that's pretty egregious, where you have a gun manufacturer who is selling machines that are designed to manufacture guns in people's house and basement. And they are doing it with no accountability," she said.

The Board of Supervisors in recent years has moved to harden local gun laws.

In 2022, it passed an ordinance to ban people from possessing ghost guns and to require all gun owners to keep their weapons locked up or locked away. Earlier this year, the board backed Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposed 28th Amendment that seeks to add strict regulations to gun ownership.

Both 3-2 votes were split along party lines.

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune .