Ghost guns are a threat to our public safety. These unregulated weapons are created from building blocks that can be easily purchased by anyone from an unlicensed seller and assembled at home in under an hour. They don't have serial numbers and don't require background checks. As a result, many cases involving ghost guns are committed by individuals legally prohibited by law from possessing a firearm, including minors, domestic abusers, extremists, and others at risk of dangerous behavior

While ghost gun regulation has had serious roadblocks, President Biden recently took decisive Executive Action. Under the previous interpretation of federal law, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) had not treated ghost guns as traditional firearms, allowing owners to circumvent almost all of our existing gun laws. The lax laws surrounding these weapons made them increasingly more prevalent. In 2021, ATF recovered more than 20,000 ghost guns involved in criminal investigations. That number is rising at alarming rates.

Americans called for action, and President Biden responded. A recent poll showed that 2 in 3 Americans support stricter gun violence prevention laws. The Biden administration recently finalized new steps aimed at tightening these rules. These common-sense regulations for purchasing ghost guns are an important step to help save lives and reduce crime.  

The new rules Biden signed include:

• Requiring anyone purchasing a kit to undergo a background check, as is required for other firearms;

• Requiring sellers of ghost gun kits to mark components with a serial number so that the weapon produced can be traced;

• It also mandates that firearm dealers add a serial number to already built ghost guns they come across in their businesses.