‘An especially grave threat’: White House goes after ‘ghost guns’

President Joe Biden announced a series of actions to regulate so-called “ghost guns”, as congressional action to regulate firearms looks next to impossible.

The president announced the regulations in the Rose Garden at the White House when discussing the danger that the guns posed. Ghost guns are often ordered in kits that people have to assemble and lack serial numbers, making it difficult for law enforcement to track them.

“If you buy a couch you have to assemble, it’s still a couch,” he said and gestured to a gun kit that could assemble a “ghost gun.” “It’s not hard to put together. It doesn’t take very long. Anyone can order it in the mail.”

The rule announced by the Biden administration would ban the manufacture of “ghost guns” and clarify that they qualify as guns under the Gun Control Act of 1968. The rule would also serialize the “buy build shoot” guns already in circulation.

Mr Biden also spoke about the need for community policing and spoke about the need to fully fund police, which he mentioned in his State of the Union address last month.

“The answer is not to defund the police,” he said. “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.”

Vice President Kamala Harris noted that the lack of serial numbers on “ghost guns” makes them especially threatening.

“Ghost guns pose an especially grave threat to the safety of our communities,” she said at the White House event.

Mr Biden was clear that congressional action was needed to address gun violence.

“We need Congress to pass universal background checks,” he said to applause. “And I know it’s controversial but I’ve done once, ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.”

As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr Biden wrote the 1994 Crime Bill that included a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. But the provision expired after 10 years and was not renewed during the Bush administration.

Mr Biden also announced that he would nominate Steve Dettelbach to serve as the director of The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Mr Biden had previously nominated gun control advocate David Chipman but had to withdraw because his provocative stances on guns.

But Congress is unlikely to take action on curbing gun violence given the Senate’s 50-50 makeup of Democrats and Republicans, making it impossible for Democrats to break a filibuster and receive 60 votes.