“The results of this operation must be a relief to residents of Los Angles County. Any time law enforcement agents and officers remove weapons from those barred by law from possessing them, along with ammunition, communities become safer. This is important work that contributes greatly to our safety.” – CSLEA President Alan Barcelona
LOS ANGELES – On February 22, 2022, the California Attorney General’s Office announced that the California Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the results of a five-day sweep in Los Angeles County to remove firearms from individuals legally barred from possessing them.
Agents from DOJ’s Bureau of Firearms (BOF) partnered with officers from the
- Azusa Police Department,
- Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD),
- Pasadena Police Department,
- Pomona Police Department,
- Los Angeles County Probation Department,
- and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
The sweep targeted individuals listed as prohibited from possessing firearms in DOJ’s Armed and Prohibited Persons System (APPS), and resulted in 13 arrests, as well as the seizure of 114 firearms, including assault weapons, ghost guns, lower receivers, handguns, rifles and shotguns, as well as 49,148 rounds of ammunition, and 87 high-capacity magazines.
“California’s Armed and Prohibited Persons System is a critical tool that makes the work of cracking down on illegal gun ownership and possession possible,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Last week, using APPS and working together with our law enforcement partners in Southern California, our teams removed 114 firearms from individuals who are no longer legally allowed to own or possess firearms or ammunition. Collaborative efforts like these increase our success in taking guns out of potentially dangerous hands, reducing gun violence, and keeping our neighborhoods safe.”
In 2006, the State of California became the first and only state in the nation to establish a system for tracking firearm owners who fall into a prohibited status.
The APPS database works to identify individuals who lawfully procured firearms and later became prohibited from owning or possessing them. In general, prohibited persons in APPS include individuals who were convicted of a felony or a violent misdemeanor, were placed under a domestic violence or other restraining order, or suffer from serious mental illness.
The five-day operation resulted in the seizure of 114 firearms, including 55 handguns, 19 rifles, 15 shotguns, 17 assault weapons, and 8 ghost guns.
