ATF Stat on California Gun Confiscations Proves Gun Control Won’t Work

Everyone knows that California has the most restrictive gun laws in the country. Really, they have the most restrictive laws in general. It’s much harder to purchase a firearm in the state, and they have substantially more legal means to take guns away from citizens. It’s a convoluted mess, and much of it is unconstitutional, but here we are.

With all of these laws, CA sees some of the highest numbers of gun confiscations in the country. In recent years, they’ve doubled down on gun control, and the confiscation rate continues to rise. That’s where we run into an interesting statistic. According to ATF records within the state of California, 30 percent of all gun confiscations involve homemade firearms.

Before we get into some of the conclusions we can draw from that statistic, we have to talk about homemade guns. Federally, it is perfectly legal to build your own gun. Additionally, if you make at least 20 percent of the gun yourself (as opposed to assembling a pre-fabricated kit), then the firearm does not need a serial number. There are no licenses required for this process.

At the federal level, it has been ruled unconstitutional to infringe on the right to make your own firearm. Considering Americans have been doing this since before there was a 2nd Amendment, it’s not surprising that the right is protected.

Naturally, California doesn’t care about anyone’s rights. Within those borders, the rules on homemade firearms change substantially. All homemade firearms are supposed to be serialized and registered with the state. It’s also illegal to build your own gun without the right set of permits. When you consider how hard it is for a kid to run a lemonade stand in the Golden State, you can imagine the hurdles they’ve put in front of making a gun.

With all of that setting the stage, let’s revisit our little statistic. In a state with the most restrictions on guns and most gun confiscations, 30 percent of the guns are homemade. None of them are serialized or registered with the state.

Now, consider what it takes to have a gun confiscated. Even in tyrannical California, the cops can’t just bust into your home and grab your guns without justification. The majority of guns are confiscated from crime scenes and during arrests. While we could argue on the constitutionality of all of this, there’s an important point hiding in the data. Criminals in California are not being deterred by gun laws. At all.

Again, this isn’t surprising. One of the oldest and most reasonable arguments against gun control is that criminals don’t care about the law. Murder is already illegal. Banning guns doesn’t change that.

Well, now we have hard evidence that this argument is true. In California, criminals who have their guns confiscated don’t care if it’s illegal to make the firearm at home. The state made it harder to purchase and bear arms, so the criminals of the state compensated — just as everyone predicted.

At the same time, gun ownership in California is way down from historical levels. The gun control laws are doing exactly what everyone knew they would. They are disarming the law-abiding citizens without decreasing violent crime or even making it difficult for criminals to get weapons. This is total failure.

Perhaps we owe the California government a debt of gratitude. They just debunked gun control.