Editorial: We need to tighten up regulations on deadly ‘ghost guns’
LA TimesFor several years now, some gun makers have been exploiting a loophole in federal regulations to evade a range of gun control measures by selling firearms in pieces to be assembled later by consumers, including people barred from owning a gun. No charges have been filed, but a federal affidavit alleges that the firm sold the kits without conducting background checks, including to buyers who would not have been able to pass one. Selling gun parts as a do-it-yourself kit is so close to selling the gun itself, the government should regulate the kits as firearms, including requiring serial numbers and background checks for customers. Less likely to happen in these fractious political times is Congress addressing the issue as part of a package of reforms that would ban assault-style weapons, require universal background checks for every transfer of a firearm, close the “Charleston loophole” that allows a firearm sale to proceed if the FBI doesn’t finish a background check within three days, and take other common sense steps toward making society safer. But it shouldn’t be that hard for the Biden administration’s ATF to review its regulatory position on receivers and frames, and close the ghost gun loophole.