New York Moms Demand Action, Everytown Applaud Governor Cuomo’s Commitment to Regulate Ghost Guns in 2020
1.2.2020
In December, Everytown for Gun Safety Urged the ATF to Interpret Similarly Worded Federal Law to Regulate the Building Blocks for Ghost Guns
NEW YORK – Volunteers with the New York chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, part of Everytown for Gun Safety, today applauded Governor Cuomo’s proposal to close loopholes in state and federal laws and comprehensively regulate ghost guns in New York in 2020. Governor Cuomo announced today an additional proposal of his 2020 agenda would be to regulate unfinished receivers, which are untraceable and can be purchased without a background check, and the parts and kits that can be used to build firearms from unfinished receivers. These steps will help keep these firearm components out of dangerous hands.
“In a historic year for gun safety legislation, Governor Cuomo has once again shown that gun safety is at the top of his agenda,” said Allison Peters, a volunteer with the New York chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Ghost guns undoubtedly pose a threat to our communities and by regulating them, our families will be safer.”
Everytown for Gun Safety demanded the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) correct its own failure to regulate untraceable ghost guns in the form of a petition for rulemaking. Everytown’s petition urges the ATF to clarify that unfinished frames and receivers are firearms and therefore are subject to background check requirements and other gun laws.
Unfinished frames and receivers are the core building blocks for untraceable ghost guns. The ATF does not require unfinished frames and receivers to have serial numbers, so the ghost guns created with these building blocks cannot be traced. The current lack of regulation and enforcement enables gun traffickers and people who are prohibited from owning firearms, like minors, convicted domestic abusers, and those with violent criminal histories, to acquire all the parts necessary to build an untraceable firearm with no background check.