Biden To Announce Ban On Ghost Gun Kits - White House

Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published April 11, 2022 | 06:40 PM

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th April, 2022) US President Joe Biden will announce on Monday a ban on ghost gun kits in an effort to crack down on unserialized, privately-made firearms, the White House said.

"Today, the President and Deputy Attorney General will announce that the U.S. Department of Justice has issued a final rule to rein in the proliferation of 'ghost guns' - unserialized, privately-made firearms that law enforcement are increasingly recovering at crime scenes in cities across the country," the statement read.

The rule will ban manufacturing of the most accessible ghost guns, which are available for purchase online without any background checks and can be easily assembled into a working firearm at home, the White House explained.

"This rule clarifies that these kits qualify as 'firearms' under the Gun Control Act, and that commercial manufacturers of such kits must therefore become licensed and include serial numbers on the kits' frame or receiver, and commercial sellers of these kits must become federally licensed and run background checks prior to a sale - just like they have to do with other commercially-made firearms," it added.

The White House complained that the number of ghost guns recovered by law enforcement officers has increased 10 times since 2016 to 20,000 last year. "Because ghost guns lack the serial numbers marked on other firearms, law enforcement has an exceedingly difficult time tracing a ghost gun found at a crime scene back to an individual purchaser," the administration said.

Biden also plans to enhance capabilities of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), including with the nomination of former US Attorney Steve Dettelbach as director of ATF, according to the statement.

In addition, the administration will require federally licensed firearms dealers to retain key records until they shut down their business or licensed activity.