New rule broadens definition of firearms.
Several weeks after the president issued an order restricting so-called “ghost guns,” the Department of Justice released a proposed rule that would broaden the definition of a firearm on Friday. The rule would require some gun-making kits to include a serial number. The term “ghost gun” refers to homemade firearms that lack numbers that can be used to trace them and have often been purchased without a background check.
The Justice Department estimates that more than 23,000 weapons without serial numbers were seized by law enforcement from 2016 to 2020 and were identified in connection with 325 homicides or attempted homicides.
It is legal to build a gun in a home or a workshop, and advances in 3-D printing and milling have made it easier to do so.
Ready-made kits can be purchased for a few hundred dollars online without the kind of background check required for traditional gun purchases. But under the proposed rule, retailers would be required to run background checks before selling some of those kits that contain the parts necessary for someone to readily assemble a gun at home.
Once the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register, the public will have 90 days to submit comments.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For the Justice Department as they seek to increase gun safety.
- For the president and his administration to have discernment as they work to reduce gun violence.
Sources: Newsmax, U.S. News & World Report
