San Diego County sues ghost gun manufacturer

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The County of San Diego and national gun safety group GIFFORD Law Center have partnered on a lawsuit against Defense Distributed, a gun manufacturing company.

The county claims the company did a bait and switch on an already banned product.

“They are profiting on death and they need to be held accountable,” said county supervisor vice chair Terra Lawson-Remer.

The county is suing the company over one of their ghost gun manufacturing machines. Lawson-Remer said in 2022 the county council voted to bring lawsuits against ghost gun manufacturers.

“And we are not going to be looking the other way we are going to come after you,” Lawson-Remer said.

A lawsuit filed this week alleges that for years Defense Distributed sold a machine called the Ghost Gunner, which allowed users to build ghost guns, otherwise known as illegal untraceable and un-serialized guns.

The Ghost Gunner was advertised as being able to make an AR-15. The suit claims the users would also be able to bypass state and federal gun purchasing requirements, like background checks and age limits.

In 2022, California law AB1621 outlawed the machine.

“But instead of actually discontinuing the distribution of manufacturing of death, they instead rebranded it,” Lawson-Remer said.

The Ghost Gunner became the Coast Runner. The suit claims it is the same machine with a new coat of paint.

The county claimed in the lawsuit that the company has been promoting at a booth recently, which was located at Las Vegas gun show this year. The lawsuit claimed the company advertised it as the “hottest new product” in the firearms industry.

“You can’t put lipstick on a big frankly,” Lawson-Remer said.

“It’s breaking down our whole system,” added RoseAnn Sharp, the founder of NeverAgainCA , an advocacy group formed after the 2018 Parkland shooting in Florida.

The group of 15 advocates work to stop the sale of all ammunition on state-owned property, with success in banning the sale of all guns and ammunition at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

Sharp said the county’s lawsuit is critical in stopping companies that reinvent themselves to thwart gun laws.

“It puts every community at risk,” Sharp said.

“This is infiltrating our communities I can’t tell you other than that’s how they make their money,” Sharp added.

“And when you make it more profitable to obey the law than break the law that incentivizes compliance,” Lawson-Remer said.

It’s unclear at the moment what dollar amount the county is seeking in damages.

FOX 5 reached out to defense distributed, as of Friday evening there was no response.

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