San Jose

Ghost Guns Appearing More and More on School Campuses in the South Bay

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The use of ghost guns has exploded across the country in the last five years and now, there’s a fear that children are increasingly becoming part of that troubling trend.

San Jose police officers were on foot patrol and circling the perimeter at Willow Glen High School, all in an attempt to ease concerns one day after a student was arrested for bringing a loaded ghost gun to campus.

“This isn’t supposed to happen to kids at school. It's supposed to be safe here,” said a parent. “This is something you don’t expect your kids to call you, that they’re on the ground and blocking doors in school. This should not happen.”

In late April, students at San Jose's Hoover Middle School and Central High School in Morgan Hill were also arrested for bringing guns on campus.

One of those was also a ghost gun, meaning a gun with no serial numbers, making it virtually untraceable.

“It’s getting frustrating, it's getting scary. All these feelings that you’re scared to send your kid to school not knowing if they’re going to come back safe,” said the parent.

At Willow Glen, many parents chose to keep their kids out of school Thursday. 

“It’s a completely terrifying combination,” said Marisa McKeown, supervising DA in Santa Clara County who has prosecuted many gun crimes.

She says the rise in reports of kids with ghost guns is deeply troubling.

“In general, ghost guns are a huge problem for our community. And it's just tragic when they wind up in the hands of children. It's understandable how children can get their hands on a ghost gun though because they're so easy to come by,” she said.

McKeown said that in 2015, she saw five ghost gun crimes come through her desk. By 2021, that number skyrocketed to 300.

“We all as a community need to hold hands together on this issue and say this is completely unacceptable,” she said. “That children can so easily get their hands on ghost guns.”

Counselors also spent their day on campus at Willow Glen High, listening to the fears of those students who did show up and trying to make sense of the increasingly troubling trend.

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