FRESNO (KMJ) — Federal agents say there could be as many as half a million untraceable guns on the streets of California.
They're called 'ghost guns' – firearms with no serial numbers and no means of identifying them.
They're turning up at crime scenes – and investigators then have nothing to go on to find out who was involved.
"People are buying these knowing there's no paper trial", says ATF Agent Graham Barlowe. "There's no way to trace it back to them – there's no accountability on their part.
"When you're asking yourself why would someone spend $5000 on a machine gun they're purchasing from a convicted felon, a gang member. I think the answers are all bad".
Last July's Stockton bank robbery involved an un-marked gun and ended with the death of a hostage – and mother – Misty Holt-Singh.
Police say it made their investigation all the more difficult.
A bill to legally ban the selling, manufacturing, buying, or trafficking of ghost guns found its way to Governor Brown's desk at the end of last year – but he vetoed it soon afterwards.
