Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto announced a $5 million settlement today in a lawsuit against Nevada-based Polymer80, permanently prohibiting the company from selling its "ghost gun" kits in the state without first conducting background checks of buyers and serializing its products.
Such ghost gun kits can be purchased anonymously without background checks and easily put together at home by an individual in under an hour, while remaining untraceable.
As part of the settlement, the company must pay $4 million in civil penalties, and its two founders must pay an additional $1 million in civil penalties.
"This settlement holds Polymer80 and its founders accountable, keeps guns out of the hands of prohibited people, makes L.A. neighborhoods safer and will help law enforcement to their jobs,'' Feldstein Soto said in a statement.
"More than 16,000 people have been killed by gun violence so far in
2023. This is an important step toward preventing unnecessary deaths,
especially as Congress repeatedly fails to take action."