Archive for category: U.S.

Guns without serial numbers, built at home, are increasingly becoming the weapon of choice for criminals in California, experts say, and there’s not much law enforcement can do to stop the trend.

Called ghost guns, the weapons are impossible to trace.

They start as just one part: an unfinished lower receiver, which houses the gun’s firing mechanisms. Because they’re incomplete, unfinished lower receivers don’t need to be registered. The rest of the gun can then be assembled from parts bought online.

On Thursday, sheriff’s homicide detectives confirmed suspicions that the weapon used in the shooting at Saugus High School on Nov. 14 was a ghost gun.

After his mother dropped him off at the campus, 16-year-old Nathan Berhow pulled the .45 caliber pistol from his backpack and opened fire, killing two students, wounding another three, then killing himself.

Detectives don’t know yet where Berhow got the gun. Numerous weapons, apparently belonging to Berhow’s father who died two years ago, were seized from the home. Some of those were unregistered, sheriffs officials said.

Whether Berhow found the gun at home or bought the parts himself, the shooting is exactly what law enforcement officers across the nation want to avoid: people who are not supposed to have guns obtaining them with ease.

“Our entire system is built around those who can have firearms and those who can’t,” said Nick Suplina, a former special counsel to the New York Attorney General’s Office.

Since ghost guns can be put together or bought by anyone, some gun companies market the unfinished receivers for hobbyists.

With the right equipment, they can be machined out of metal; with a 3D printer, they could be constructed using streams of plastic.

Increasingly, guns without serial numbers are showing up at crime scenes.

In August, a convicted felon armed with an unregistered AR-15 rifle killed CHP Officer Andre Moye Jr. and wounded two other officers in a shootout on the 215 freeway following a traffic stop.

In 2013, 23-year-old John Zawahri killed five people and injured two others in a rampage at Santa Monica College using a homemade AR-15.

Last year, the ATF and Los Angeles Police Department detectives arrested 10 East L.A. gang members who were manufacturing rifles out of unfinished receivers. Police seized 45 weapons: dozens of AR-15s, an AK-47 and an SKS rifle.

“This is a common trend ATF is seeing in SoCal amongst gangs — criminals building their own guns since they are prohibited from buying guns legally,” said Bill McMullen, the special agent in charge of the ATF’s L.A. office, at the time of the arrests.

Gang members and convicted felons have been making money off these operations for years.

Suplina, now the managing director for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety, was with the N.Y. attorney general’s office in 2015 when officials broke up a weapons manufacturing operation in one of the first criminal prosecutions of an unlicensed gun maker.

“We uncovered a gun trafficking operation, someone making and selling these guns on the black market,” Suplina said. “The maker and seller was himself a convicted felon.”

State lawmakers have since attempted to close the unfinished receiver loophole. California legislators passed rules in 2016 requiring anyone planning to build a weapon at home to register the gun with the state Department of Justice.

Assemblymember Mike Gipson of Carson wrote the bill. The Saugus High School shooting shows exactly why the new rules are necessary, he said on Thursday, a week after the tragedy.

“(Ghost guns) are appearing more and more frequently, and with devastating consequences,” he said.

But Mark Tallman, a professor at Colorado State University-Pueblo with a forthcoming book specifically on ghost guns, expects enforcement of the new law to be difficult, with California increasingly known to be home to firearms assembled and used by criminals, at least, anecdotally.

“I had a strong suspicion that the Saugus case fit the profile of somebody who might use a ghost gun,” he said, noting the shooter’s age and other presumed roadblocks to obtaining a gun legally.

 

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U.S. retail sales rebounded in October, but consumers cut back on purchases of big-ticket household items and clothing, which could temper expectations for a strong holiday shopping season.

The Commerce Department said on Friday retail sales increased 0.3% last month, lifted by motor vehicle purchases and higher gasoline prices, reversing September’s unrevised 0.3% drop, which was the first decline in seven months.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales gaining 0.2% in October. Compared to October last year, retail sales advanced 3.1%.

Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales increased 0.3% last month. Data for September was revised lower to show the so-called core retail sales slipping 0.1% instead of being unchanged as previously reported. Core retail sales correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product.

The rebound in core retail sales added to reports this week showing firming inflation in supporting the Federal Reserve’s signal that it will probably not cut interest rates again in the near term. Other reports this month have shown solid job growth in October and an acceleration in services sector activity.

The data and easing trade tensions between Washington and Beijing have diminished financial market fears of a recession. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers on Thursday that “the U.S. economy is the star economy these days,” compared to other advanced economies and “there’s no reason that can’t continue.”

The U.S. central bank last month cut rates for the third time this year and signaled a pause in the easing cycle that started in July when it reduced borrowing costs for the first time since 2008.

Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy, increased at a 2.9% annualized rate in the third quarter. The economy’s engine is being powered by the lowest unemployment rate in nearly 50 years and has helped to blunt the hit on the economy from the White House’s 16-month trade war with China, which had led to a decline in capital expenditure and a recession in manufacturing.

Auto sales increased 0.5% in October after declining 1.3% in September. Receipts at service stations surged 1.1%, reflecting higher gasoline prices, after dipping 0.1% in the prior month. Online and mail-order retail sales increased 0.9% after gaining 0.2% in September.

But sales at electronics and appliance stores fell 0.4%. Receipts at building material stores dropped 0.5% and sales at clothing stores declined 1.0%. Spending at furniture stores fell 0.9%, the largest decline since December 2018.

Americans also cut back on spending at restaurants and bars, with sales falling 0.3%, the most in nearly a year. Spending at hobby, musical instrument and book stores dropped 0.8%.

 

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As wildfire season loomed in California last month, the executive who oversees Apple’s environmental efforts told CNN Business that fires sparked in the state show the need to update the United States’ aging energy infrastructure.

Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, said the US’s energy system was meant to bring power to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. But wildfires in California highlight the need to invest in technology to improve that system and make it more resilient.

“Investing in our energy system is much more forward looking than defending the old systems,” Jackson said. “A new energy system is what we need.”

Jackson made the remarks during an interview with CNN Business Emerging Markets Editor John Defterios at a San Francisco Apple store on October 11.

Equipment from utility company Pacific Gas and Electric has been blamed for starting deadly wildfires in the state in the past and the company has filed reports saying that its equipment may again be linked to at least three of the more than a dozen recent fires. PG&E also faced criticism in October for intentionally cutting many customers’ electricity in a bid to avoid lines sparking fires during windy, dry conditions.

The interview with Jackson occurred just weeks before the start of the massive Kincade wildfire in Sonoma County on October 23, which as of Wednesday was mostly contained and had consumed nearly 80,000 acres. At the same time, several other wildfires in various states of containment burned throughout California.

Jackson also said she believes California in particular can “set the pace” for clean energy in the US. The state has a goal of meeting all of its electrical needs with carbon-free power sources by 2045.

Apple, which is based in Cupertino, California, met a company goal to run its offices, retail stores, data centers on 100% clean energy back in 2018. The company has also convinced 44 of its suppliers to commit to doing likewise for the production of Apple products.

Tech companies’ actions related to climate change have also been a key issue among their workers: Google employees, for instance, published an open letter Monday addressed to the company’s chief financial officer, demanding it come up with a climate plan that includes a commitment to being emissions free by 2030. Such a plan would be similar to those asked for by employees at Amazon and Microsoft.

 

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For part of the year, it seemed like robocalls might finally be on the decline. Then October happened. According to telecommunications services company YouMail, October was the worst month on record for robocalls. Americans were on the receiving end of a record-setting 5.7 billion spam calls over the course of the month. That’s 182 million calls per day or about 2,115 calls received by Americans every second.

October managed to surpass March 2019 as the worst to date when it comes to robocalls. Seven percent more unwanted dials were placed in October than the 5.2 billion received in March. The uptick also marked a massive jump in calls from previous months. There was a whopping 25 percent increase in robocalls from the 4.5 billion placed in September. It’s the largest jump in the calls in over a year and brings total number of robocalls placed in 2019 to 49 billion. More robocalls have been placed in the first 10 months of 2019 than were placed in all of 2018.

The most common types of robocalls in October.

“Here we go again – October’s record robocall volume reminds us there’s a long way to go before the robocall problem is solved,” YouMail CEO Alex Quilici said in a statement. “It’s hard to imagine, but we are still on pace to wind up with nearly 60 billion calls to U.S. consumers this year.”

The spike in robocalls was driven largely by an increase in scam calls. There were 32 percent more scam calls placed during the month than came in September. Health-related scams saw the biggest jump with a 29 percent increase, while interest rate scams were up 13 percent over the previous month. Health insurance scams may have been on the rise because the Healthcare Marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act was set to enter the open enrollment on November 1.

The most common types of scam robocalls made in October.

According to YouMail, Atlanta, Georgia has the distinct displeasure of being the most robocalled city in the entire country, receiving a total of 221 million calls over the course of October. Washington, D.C. had the most robocalls per person, with each resident of the city receiving an average of 57.4 robocalls during the month. Texas was the state with the most robocalls, receiving a total of 636 million, while Louisiana was the state with the most robocalls per person at 35.1 calls in October.

 

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