Note: the 30% number quoted by Vice is according to Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun agitprop operation The Trace.
Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun control advocacy group founded by 2020 candidate Michael Bloomberg, wants to know why ATF won’t crack down on ghost guns, since they had regulated them in the past. On Thursday, Everytown filed a petition with ATF asking it to “correct its own failure to regulate untraceable ghost guns.”
ATF did not respond to VICE News’ request for comment.
Ghost guns are typically sold in kits online, costing between $250 to $500, with parts that can be easily assembled into a fully-functioning firearm — meaning anyone can build their own high-powered AR-style rifle, and the government will never know about it.
Initially a niche hobby enjoyed by firearm enthusiasts, these kits have become attractive to criminals or criminal enterprises because of the untraceability. According to ATF, 30% of firearms recovered at crime scenes in California in an unspecified period are ghost guns.
“Whether it’s made from a kit with minimal assembly or purchased fully assembled, a gun causes the same devastation in the wrong hands,” Eric Tirschwell, managing director of litigation and national enforcement at Everytown Law, said in a statement. “With this petition, we’re not just saying that ATF is uniquely positioned to keep ghost guns out of the wrong hands.”
– Tess Owen in Everytown Is Going After the ATF for Not Regulating Untraceable ‘Ghost Guns’