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U.S. NEWS Monday 11 april 2022
Biden expected to release rule on ghost guns in days

By MICHAEL BALSAMO black market for home-
Associated Press made, military-style semi-
WASHINGTON (AP) — The automatic rifles and hand-
Biden administration will guns. As well as turning up
come out with its long- more frequently at crime
awaited ghost gun rule scenes, ghost guns have
— aimed at reining in pri- been increasingly encoun-
vately made firearms with- tered when federal agents
out serial numbers that are buy guns in undercover op-
increasingly cropping up at erations from gang mem-
crime scenes — as soon as bers and other criminals.
Monday, three people fa- Some states, like California,
miliar with the matter told have enacted laws in re-
The Associated Press. cent years to require serial
Completion of the rule numbers to be stamped on
comes as the White House ghost guns.
and the Justice Depart- The critical component in
ment have been under building an untraceable
growing pressure to crack gun is what is known as
down on gun deaths and the lower receiver, a part
violent crime in the U.S. typically made of metal
The White House has also or polymer. An unfinished
been weighing naming This Nov. 27, 2019, file photo shows "ghost guns" on display at the headquarters of the San Fran- receiver — sometimes re-
Steve Dettelbach, a former cisco Police Department in San Francisco. ferred to as an "80-percent
U.S. attorney from Ohio, to Associated Press receiver" — can be legally
run the Bureau of Alcohol, bought online with no serial
Tobacco, Firearms and Ex- weeks. Ghost guns are "too easy of a handgun or the receiv- numbers or other markings
plosives, or ATF, the people The exact timing of the an- to build, too hard to trace er of a long gun. on it, no license required.
said. Biden had to with- nouncement hasn't been and too dangerous to ig- In its proposed rule re- Police across the country
draw the nomination of his set, the people said. They nore." leased last May, the ATF have been reporting spikes
first nominee, gun-control could not discuss the mat- Justice Department statis- said it was also seeking to in ghost guns being recov-
advocate David Chipman, ter publicly and spoke to tics show that nearly 24,000 require manufacturers and ered by officers. The New
after the nomination stalled AP on condition of ano- ghost guns were recovered dealers who sell ghost gun York Police Department,
for months because of op- nymity. The White House by law enforcement at parts to be licensed by the for example, said officers
position from Republicans declined to comment. crime scenes and reported federal government and found 131 unserialized fire-
and some Democrats in On Sunday, the Senate's to the government from require federally licensed arms since January.
the Senate. top Democrat, Sen. Chuck 2016 to 2020. It is hard to firearms dealers to add a A gunman who killed his
For nearly a year, the rule Schumer, of New York, im- say how many are circulat- serial number to any unse- wife and four others in
has been making its way plored the administration ing on the streets, in part rialized guns they plan to Northern California in 2017
through the federal regu- to move faster. because in many cases sell. had been prohibited from
lation process. Gun safety "It's high time for a ghost police departments don't The rule would also require owning firearms, but he
groups and Democrats in gun exorcism before the contact the government firearms dealers to run built his own to skirt the
Congress have been push- proliferation peaks, and about the guns because background checks before court order before his ram-
ing for the Justice Depart- before more people get they can't be traced. they sell ghost gun kits that page. And in 2019, a teen-
ment to finish the rule for hurt — or worse," Schumer The rule is expected to contain parts needed to ager used a homemade
months. It will probably be said in a statement. "My change the current defini- assemble a firearm. handgun to fatally shoot
met with heavy resistance message is a simple one: tion of a firearm under fed- For years, federal officials two classmates and wound
from gun groups and draw No more waiting on these eral law to include unfin- have been sounding the three others at a school in
litigation in the coming proposed federal rules." ished parts, like the frame alarm about an increasing suburban Los Angeles.q
2 killed and 10 wounded in Cedar Rapids nightclub shooting

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) bar and found the victims. Police were searching for
— A shooting inside a Officers helped treat the suspects Sunday afternoon
crowded Cedar Rapids people who were wound- and no arrests had been
nightclub left a man and a ed and rushed several of reported.
woman dead and 10 peo- the victims to hospitals in Jerman said police haven't
ple wounded early Sunday, squad cars. determined the motive for
authorities said. The names of the man and the shooting but investiga-
Cedar Rapids Police Chief woman who died were not tors believe one of the vic-
Wayne Jerman said inves- released Sunday. Jerman tims was targeted.
tigators believe two men said one of the people who "This is another mindless
fired more than a dozen were injured was in critical and senseless gun-related
shots inside the Taboo condition Sunday after- incident involving a reck-
Nightclub and Lounge just noon while the other inju- less disregard for human
before 1:30 a.m. Sunday. ries, which were all related life," Jerman said. "I remain
He said officers who were to the gunfire, ranged from livid and angered at the
just outside the club be- serious to minor. continued and blatant dis-
cause of an earlier incident The gunmen likely escaped regard and lack of respect Crime scene tape blocks off the Taboo Nightclub and Lounge in
rushed inside just as 100-150 as the crowd rushed out of for human life that contin- Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Sunday, April 10, 2022. Associated Press
people streamed out of the the nightclub. ues. q