President Joe Biden announced new measures aimed at reducing gun violence on Monday, including a regulation aimed at introducing background checks for the purchase of so-called “ghost guns.”
“These guns are the weapons of choice for many criminals,” Biden said at a White House event. “We are going to do everything we can to deprive them of that choice.”
The Washington Post explains:
The guns, purchased from kits and assembled at home, sometimes in as little as 30 minutes, don’t require serial numbers, sidestepping efforts to vet their purchasers or track the firearms during investigations. Under a new Justice Department rule, commercial sellers of the kits have to be licensed federally and run background checks — just like with commercially made firearms.
The new regulation also requires gun retailers to mark components of the kits with a serial number, so the gun, once built, can be traced. “All of a sudden, it’s no longer a ghost,” Biden said. “It has a return address.”
The new rules are “going to help save lives, reduce crime and get more criminals off the streets,” Biden said. “If you commit a crime with a ghost gun, expect federal prosecution.”
CNN provides important context:
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.
“The NRA called this rule extreme,” Biden added. “But let me ask you: Is it extreme to protect police officers, extreme to protect our children, extreme to keep guns out of the hands of people who couldn’t even pass a background check?”
Biden also urged law enforcement agencies to hire new police officers with money they received from The American Rescue Plan.
“The answer is not to defund the police. It’s to fund the police and give them the tools and training and support they need to be better partners and protectors of our communities in need,” Biden said.
Biden also announced his pick to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives: former federal attorney Steve Dettelbach. NPR reports:
In announcing Dettelbach’s nomination, the White House touted his two-decade career as a prosecutor at the Department of Justice, as well as his record of taking on criminal gang activity, domestic extremism and his experience with data-driven strategies to fight community gun violence. Dettelbach served as U.S. attorney for the northern district of Ohio during the Obama administration before resigning in 2016.
As part of his unsuccessful run for Ohio attorney general in 2018, Dettelbach pushed to reinstate an assault weapons ban and universal background checks.
Senior administration officials pitched the Cleveland-based attorney as a “non-controversial” nominee with a strong law enforcement background. But polarized politics around guns have previously made the post impossible post to fill.
The New York Times adds:
John Feinblatt, the president of Everytown for Gun Safety, thanked the White House for “doubling down” on its commitment to eradicating ghost guns and praised Mr. Dettelbach as a “strong leader.”
White House officials, frustrated by their inability to pass even minimal changes to gun laws in a Congress narrowly controlled by Democrats, say they have acted more forcefully than Mr. Biden’s recent predecessors.
NBC News provides additional context:
Biden pledged during his campaign to make stricter gun control measures, like universal background checks, a key priority if he was elected.
But many of those changes require action from Congress, where lawmakers have been unable to reach a compromise on stricter gun control measures. Gun control advocates have been pushing the White House to go further.
