Congressional representatives including Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa, reintroduced a bill last week that would require sellers of ghost gun kits to comply with federal regulations around gun safety.
The Ghost Guns and Untraceable Firearms Act bans ghost guns, which can be assembled at home from parts that have no serial number and whose use appears to be proliferating across the United States.
Ghost guns recovered and traced by law enforcement rose more than 1,000 percent between 2016 and 2021 from 1,629 to 19,273, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
“Untraceable ghost guns are the fastest growing gun violence threat in our country, and they pose a significant risk to our communities and law enforcement,” Thompson said in a statement. “The Ghost Guns and Untraceable Firearms Act will help us crack down on the proliferation of ghost guns and keep these untraceable guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals.”
Joining Thompson as co-leads on the bill are other Democrats including Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Reps. Adriano Espaillat of New York, Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania and Brad Schneider of Illinois.
Buyers can obtain a ghost gun without passing a background check, and because ghost guns have no serial number, law enforcement has difficulty tracing them. That can impede investigations.
Among other provisions of the bill, unfinished frames and receivers, which make up the core of a ghost gun, would be added to the definition of firearm in federal law.
Sellers, manufacturers and distributors of ghost gun kits who sell frames and receivers that can be “readily” converted into functional weapons would have to comply with the same federal regulations as those that produce and distribute completed guns, according to Thompson’s office.
The bill also requires that sellers of ghost guns have a manufacturer’s license, that they put a serial number on the frame or receiver in each kit and that buyers undergo a background check.
23 comments
I’m okay with that. Honest people don’t need ghost guns. But maybe say something about those machines that use plastics to create all kinds of things including ghost guns and parts for them too. Now there is a can of worms.
I guess you’re OK with trashing the 1st Amendment, honest people don’t need free speech.
I guess you’re OK with trashing the 3rd Amendment, honest people should let soldiers can take over your houses for free.
I guess you’re OK with trashing the 4th Amendment, honest people have nothing to hide and should let their houses be searched without a warrant whenever the cops want to..
I guess you’re OK with trashing the 5th Amendment, honest people don’t need to worry if they’re tried 10 times for the same crime until a guilty verdict is achieved.
Should I go on?
And how many honest people do you know that own ghost guns?
Nobody knows, they’re untraceable.
“Untraceable ghost guns are the FASTEST GROWING GUN VIOLENCE THREAT in our country, and they pose a significant risk to our communities and law enforcement,”
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“Ghost guns recovered and traced by law enforcement rose more than 1,000 percent over 7 years?” So how many is that?
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This according to the rather dishonest Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa.
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Instead of using the stale old “scare and control ’em” mind-flip trick, how ’bout you provide proof and real numbers for your claim, Mike.
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“A FREE MAN DOES NOT NEED PERMISSION TO OWN A GUN!”
All gun laws are illegal!!!!
So you people are saying you are pro-ghost guns. What in the world had happened to the brains in this country?
“We the people” support the Constitution of this country, including the 2nd amendment.
Robert, I believe you’ve missed the point. Try reading again but from a different perspective and not that of a gun hating far left liberal. No offence meant, I think you don’t understand. There’s nothing wrong with building a gun…….it’s just a hobby.
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right to keep and bear arms. It was ratified on December 15, 1791, along with nine other articles of the Bill of Rights.
The 2nd amendment doesn’t grant the right to own a gun. The 2nd amendment prohibits the government from INFRINGING on one’s right to own a gun.
As for your question, I’d ask you the same thing.
Much like how anyone who questioned a certain mandated symptom mitigation pharmaceutical product was immediately pro-death, right?
Some might question what happened fo your brain if it can’t grasp the concept of a nuanced argument.
So if a criminal steals a gun with a serial number on it, from someones home, and uses it to commit a crime, how is that going to help catch the criminal?
Maybe the police will happen to stop the thief for some other reason. If they find the gun that belongs to the burglary victim, as shown by the serial number, the criminal just might be charged with a more serious felony. At least the gun would be seized and returned to the rightful owner.
My guns have serial numbers and I don’t see how that infringes on my liberty.
THE OBSERVER,
I believe you mean well, however you don’t quite grasp what constitutes INFRINGEMENT.
Assuming that you’re an honest citizen, with no criminal record, you have the RIGHT to be left alone regarding your pursuit of happiness and how you choose to live.
Anything and EVERYTHING that hinders your rights is an infringement; the license, the fees, regulations, magazine sizes, caliber, quantity of guns and ammo, how you store your guns, (assuming you have common sense & keep them safe).
You’re also required by illegal laws to register your guns and have your name, and what you own, in some file somewhere. Any lunatic can access your information, round up other like-minded lunatics, and harass you like the lunatic “journalist” in NYC did when the entire gun registry was published in the NY Times. That invasion of privacy is an infringement too.
To state the obvious…..people like us ain’t the effin problem.
I despise hive-minded, knee-jerk, do-gooders who lack the ability to think and reason. They’re a huge part of the problem. Their idiotic actions are another infringement.
’nuff said.
@hp-
Well stated!
As far as Mike Thompson’s statement – it’s a nothing statement. That increase of 1000 percent includes those firearms with the serial numbers removed – converting them into “ghost” guns. Again, the politicians and anti-gun BATF are cherry-picking the data to support their scare tactics and demands for more restrictions. Removal of the serial number is already a crime.
Look at the co-sponsors of the bill. All anti gun, including the serial liar Blumenthal.
As far as “need?” Who “needs” anything? Just let the idiot politicians roll right over you.
NEVER trust a politician. NEVER!
It’s great that you have this understanding of the word infringe. You have completely neglected the fact that what shall not be infringed is the “well regulated militia”. It can be inferred that in order to bear arms, it must be well regulated.
Your right to bear arms is not a carte blanche matter of fact.
It must also be considered that the constitution allows for amendments. This is not something carved in stone, forever to remain untouched. Fanatic, “originalist” readings of the text are a fallacy perpetrated by faulty Supreme Court.
The topic should never be ’nuff said either.
You forgot the part that says, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. You also need the private ownership of guns to form a militia. And just because the Supreme Court doesn’t agree with your ideology doesn’t make it faulty.
Whether or not you agree with SCOTUS is immaterial; given the tone of your response, it appears you’re fully in support of gun control (or as they say, “common sense laws”).
The term “Well-regulated” back then meant well-trained.”
Read up on it and don’t just parrot the left’s demands for more control.
Yes there is a method for amending the Constitution- but there’s a specific way to do it.
Whining is not one of them.
So when writings of the same time period referred to well regulated clocks and well regulated appetites, the government was exerting control of peoples’ timepieces and telling them when to eat?
The only people who will not be impacted by any gun regulations are criminals … out that in your pipe and smoke it.
Well I’m sure if the law requires something that all criminals will make sure to not only be aware of the law, but also to abide by it. /s
On a more serious note, the free market has provided the ability to turn aluminum blocks into lower receivers. Going after 80% kits won’t have half the effect that people might assume.
https://ghostgunner.net/zero-percent/
Then, of course, we also have the matter of 3D printers.
Darn, my Ghost Gun selling business has been going so well. I’ll keep it as a black market business as most of my customers are not law abiding. Good luck with your federal regulations. Remember a ghost gun never committed a crime.
For god sake…..won’t make a dent and doesn’t matter if there are so called “Ghost guns” out there so stop this pandering to the anti-gunners. There are more guns in our society than in the military already https://www.safehome.org/data/firearms-guns-statistics/ 17.4 mil sold in 2022 alone. compare that with the voluntary gun surrenders (gun buy back) and you should realize this effort doesn’t mean anything, just another headline to gain favor among anti-gunners. Don’t forget there millions of guns passed down through the family’s that have never been registered of accounted for so the so called “Ghost guns” are a drop in a very large bucket. Also if you are making ghost guns you don’t care about this law anyway so have fun with that.
and on criminals….. the old saying if guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns…. likely half the population.
The second amendment is very clear. Why do these politicians hate the constitution?
They hate the first, second, and all the rest.
Those who would trade liberty for security and all that.
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