BALTIMORE — Lawmakers like Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin reintroduced the Ghost Guns and Untraceable Firearms Act, to ban ghost guns.
This act is currently threatened by a Texas judge's ruling to invalidate the ghost run regulation.
These guns are easily assembled with a 3-D printer or a do-it-yourself gun-making kit purchased from an unlicensed seller.
Without a serial number, these guns are often untraceable and impede investigation by law enforcement.
The bill would require online and other sellers of gun-making kits to comply with federal firearm safety regulations.
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the number of ghost guns recovered and traced by law enforcement went from 1,629 in 2016, to 19,273 in 2021, a more than 1,000% increase.
The ghost gun act would include the core building blocks of ghost guns under federal law.
In doing so, online and other gun kit manufacturers selling frames that can be converted into weapons would be forced to comply with the same federal regulations that apply to completed firearms.
It also includes a requirement that sellers have a manufacturer’s license and put a serial number on the frame or receiver included in each kit, and that purchasers undergo a background check.
