Without a trace: How the DOJ plans to track ‘ghost guns’ and keep communities safer
Written by
Matt Gregory, Ruth Morton, Brielle Ashford (WUSA9) Published: 20 May 2022
A new ruling from the Biden Administration could change how ‘ghost guns’ are bought. But, it already has strong opposition…
Most people would look at the rack of guns waiting to be fired and never think twice about what they were seeing. But Officer Gerrish knows better. Some of these are homemade.
“You see how similar they are?” he says as he picked up two Glock-style handguns.
There are a few tiny differences between the two pistols – not otherwise noticeable – but one is factory-built. The other comes from a kit.
It’s a privately manufactured firearm, also known as a ghost gun. This means it has no serial number and no associated background check; it has no trace in the gun world…
In an attempt to curb this rising tide of untraceable weapons, the Biden administration stepped in this spring with a federal firearms rule change. Up until that point, firearm kits were not classified as firearms. That meant they did not require a serial number on the parts or a background check for purchase.
“The United States Department of Justice is making it illegal for a business to manufacture one of these kits without a serial number. Illegal,” President Joe Biden said in April, as he unveiled the new rule change.
By August, the kits used to build ghost guns most often recovered on D.C. streets will now be serialized by the manufacturer and require a background check upon purchase.
However, the new rule change already has opposition.
“Our attorneys are preparing a lawsuit to strike down this rule,” Aidan Johnston, the director of Federal Affairs for the Gun Owners of America said.
“This rule has nothing to do with crime and has everything to do with expanding the ATF’s illegal gun registry,” he alleged.
WUSA9 met with Johnston inside the Conservative Partnership institute near the Capitol and asked him about the rising tide of shootings committed with ghost guns.”
He responded pointing out that in the six years the ATF has found these untraceable guns, they have been used in at least 692 homicides. It’s a statistic the ATF has put on the record. But, Johnston believes the numbers show a different picture.
“That’s about 115 a year, which is far less than the 400 people a year who are beat to death with hands and feet, or the 600 people a year who get beat to death with a blunt object,” he pointed out. “Congress hasn’t passed a new law saying ‘we need to regulate these things.’”…
Read more at WUSA9
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