President Biden announces new gun legislation with Parkland families in attendance
President Biden announced new rules cracking down on firearms without serial numbers, also known as 'ghost guns' Monday.
'Ghost guns' are firearms which are typically assembled at home using materials that can be purchased online without a serial number and are also often found in the do-it-yourself kits.
Under the new regulations, definition of a firearm is expanded to include kits and certain unfinished parts of guns.
The Justice Department is also requiring federally licensed dealers and gunsmiths taking any firearms without serial numbers into inventory to get a serial number for that weapon. That means dealers and pawn brokers must now add a serial number to the parts and kits, and run background checks on people who wish to purchase these materials.
Parents of Parkland school shooting victims including Fred Guttenberg were in attendance for the announcement.
Guttenberg says this effort to crack down on ghost guns is important, but believes there's more work to be done to create stricter gun control laws.
"We know what it’s like to lose a child and we don’t want other people to know what we know," Guttenberg told CBS12 News. "We won’t stop until we actually have progress towards saving lives."
The rule goes into effect 120 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register, but pro-gun groups are expected to push back in the coming weeks.
President Biden also nominated a new Director of The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Monday. If confirmed, Steve Dettelbach will head up the top federal law enforcement agency responsible for enforcing gun laws.
