A man is the first charged and convicted under San Diego’s Eliminate Non-Serialized Untraceable Firearms (ENUF) ordinance, which went into effect last October.
According to San Diego City Attorney Mara W. Elliott, 23-year-old Rene Orozco was sentenced last week for possessing an unserialized “ghost gun'' after leading police on a car chase in City Heights in Late December 2021. Orozco tossed the gun as he ran from the officers.
He pleaded guilty on April 28 to evading an officer, carrying a concealed firearm, and possessing a ghost gun. The city’s ordinance went into effect only two months after his arrest.
According to the City Attorney's Office, he was sentenced last week to 45 days in custody and one year of probation. Orozco is prohibited from owning firearms for a year and holds a suspended driver's license for six months.
Councilmember von Wilpert, a former Deputy City Attorney, authored the ENUF ordinance shortly after a man opened fire on several people in the Gaslamp Quarter in April last year, killing one and injuring several others.
The sale and possession of ghost guns are prohibited under ENUF.
The ordinance was almost immediately challenged in court by local gun owners after being signed by Mayor Todd Gloria. Those in opposition said it was a violation of the Second Amendment rights of San Diegans.
A federal judge denied their request to challenge the ordinance, which went into effect in October.
“The city's novel ghost gun ordinance is an effective tool for removing untraceable firearms from the hands of criminals,'' City Attorney Mara W. Elliott said. "We thank Councilmember Marni von Wilpert for bringing forward this ordinance, which keeps San Diego at the forefront of our nation's battle against gun violence.''
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors and other local municipalities followed with similar ordinances.President Joe Biden recently announced plans to crack down on ghost guns following a mass shooting in Sacramento. The assault killed six people and injured 12 nearly two blocks away from California's capital building.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives reported 20,000 unserialized privately made firearms in 2021, a tenfold increase since 2016. The San Diego Police Department reported it recovered 545 ghost guns in 2021, an increase of 211 in 2020 and 52 in 2019.
“The city's novel ghost gun ordinance is an effective tool for removing untraceable firearms from the hands of criminals,'' City Attorney Mara W. Elliott said. "We thank Councilmember Marni von Wilpert for bringing forward this ordinance, which keeps San Diego at the forefront of our nation's battle against gun violence.''
