Senate Democrats demand enforcement guidance for new ghost guns rule

Fourteen Senate Democrats on Tuesday sent a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) asking the agencies to strictly enforce a new law on ghost guns because companies are dodging the rule through a loophole.

The “Ghost Gun Rule,” which went into effect in August, ensures that ghost gun kits sold to let purchasers assemble a firearm are subject to the same background checks, serialization requirements and licensing process as regularly sold guns.

While complete ghost gun kits are falling under ATF’s new scrutiny, the sale of frames and receivers, which are nearly-complete firearms, are being sold with less oversight, the senators said.

Companies have claimed the rule does not apply when selling those parts separate from a complete kit, which has instructions attached and tools included, according to the senators, who called it a “colossal loophole that would swallow the rule” enforced by ATF.

“Of the 100 companies previously known to sell unserialized and nearly-complete frames and receivers, dozens remain engaged in that business,” the senators wrote, “including selling nearly-complete unserialized frames and receivers as well as offering the standalone tools and equipment with directions to help purchasers complete them.”

The letter was signed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (N.Y.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Chris Murphy (Conn.), Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Chris Van Hollen (Md.), among others.

The ATF’s new rule is intended to stop the proliferation of ghost guns in the U.S., which are hard to trace. The rule requires sellers to conduct a background check for the sale of ghost gun kits and include a serial number on certain parts.

Ghost guns have rapidly spread in use across the nation. The DOJ has reported that nearly 24,000 ghost guns were recovered at crime scenes from 2016 to 2020, and the amount recovered each year has doubled.

A suspect who was arrested and charged this week with a series of brutal murders in Stockton, Calif., allegedly used a ghost gun to commit the acts.

House Democrats also sent a letter Wednesday to the DOJ and ATF, asking for them to similarly increase oversight of partially completed frames and receivers along with the ghost gun kits.

“Bad actors in the gun industry are blatantly flouting the rule by continuing to sell unfinished and unserialized frames and receivers, ” the letter reads, “and we are concerned that the companies selling these ghost gun parts have been informed by staff from the ATF that this conduct is permissible despite the new regulation.”

That letter was signed by dozens of House Democrats, including Rep.s Mike Thompson (Calif.), Sean Maloney (N.Y.), Eric Swalwell (Calif.) and David Cicilline (R.I.).