The moves come as gun violence and crime have ticked up in the United States, putting pressure on the White House to take action. Gun violence traditionally spikes in the summer months, lending further urgency to Monday’s actions.
The new rule issued by the Justice Department seeks to rein in a type of weapon that has been seen more and more at crime scenes across the country. Ghost gun kits can be purchased online, and a weapon can be self-manufactured in as little as 30 minutes. Because regulators cannot trace them, ghost guns are appealing to criminals and those with criminal histories, according to officials.
The new rules would require anyone purchasing a kit to undergo a background check, as is required for other types of firearm purchases. It would also require those selling the kits to mark components with a serial number, so the eventual weapon produced can be traced. And it would mandate firearm dealers add a serial number to already built ghost guns they come across in their businesses.
“The Biden administration is making sure these kits are treated as the deadly firearms they are,” a senior administration official said ahead of the announcement.
“Ghost guns look like a gun, they shoot like a gun, and they kill like a gun, but up until now they haven’t been regulated like a gun,” John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, said in a statement celebrating the Biden administration for “doubling down on its commitment to gun safety.”
Mia Tretta, who was shot and wounded with a ghost gun in a school shooting in California in 2019, similarly praised the administration for taking “a critical step” with the new regulation.
“If you can put together an IKEA dresser, you can build a ghost gun,” she said in a statement. “Unfortunately, it is that easy to get a weapon that has not only changed my life but has done the same thing to thousands of others. Finalizing this rule is a critical step to making sure no one else has to go through what my family has had to go through.”
Ghost guns have been used in multiple recent shootings, including at a Maryland high school in January. The exact number in circulation is unknowable, given the inability of regulators to track them.
Between 2016 and 2021, the ATF received 45,000 reports of privately made firearms recovered by law enforcement, including 692 from homicides or attempted homicides. The agency was able to trace only 1% of them, officials said, because the firearms lack serial numbers.
Multiple states have moved to restrict their sale as ghost guns become more common at crime scenes.
The New York Democrat blamed Republicans for holding up gun reform legislation, while pressing Biden’s administration to go further. “Today I am calling on the administration to go all after ghost guns, by putting out regulations that will stop them. The federal government has the ability through regulation to stop these ghost guns,” he said.
Still, Biden’s planned firearm regulation drew backlash from gun rights advocates even before being officially announced.
Aidan Johnston, the director of federal affairs for Gun Owners of America, said in a statement Sunday, “Biden’s proposal to create a comprehensive national gun registry and end the online sale of gun parts without the passage of a new law exemplifies his disregard for the Second Amendment.”
Chipman, a former career official at ATF, came under scrutiny from gun rights supporters and the National Rifle Association for his work as a senior adviser to Everytown for Gun Safety and Giffords — the organization started by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot at an event in her Arizona district in 2011.
Dettelbach ran unsuccessfully for Ohio attorney general in 2018 after serving as US attorney in the state.
“We will be working hard to ensure that Steve Dettelbach receives the fair hearing and confirmation that he deserves. He should be a noncontroversial candidate because he has a long record of working in law enforcement and for the public safety of the people of Ohio and the American people,” one of the officials said.
CNN’s Paul LeBlanc contributed to this report.
