Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus reacts to White House regulations on ghost guns

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – On Monday, President Joe Biden announced plans to regulate ghost gun use.

These guns are legal but buyers can construct the guns themselves by purchasing kits. Ghost guns do not have serial numbers which makes the guns untraceable for law enforcement when a crime is committed.

The Biden administration hopes placing rules on ghost guns, will lower gun violence that’s surged nationally since the beginning of the pandemic.

“These guns are the weapons of choice for many criminals. We’re going to do everything we can to deprive them of that choice and we’re going to find them and put them in jail for a long long time. Law enforcement has sounded the alarm our communities are paying the price. And we are acting today. The United States Department of Justice is making it illegal for businesses to manufacture one of these kits without a serial number . . .illegal,” Biden said.

In addition, the federal rules implement background checks for buyers. Sellers have to be federally licensed firearms dealers, and sellers need to keep records of gun purchases.

Rob Doar, of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, said the president’s rules aren’t guaranteed to prevent crimes.

“If serial numbers were mandated then criminals are just going to revert just to filing off serial numbers. So, at the end of the day, I don’t see this having a single impact on violent crime,” he said.

Doar predicts many sellers will sue the government because of the changes they’ll have to implement.

“I can imagine within 48 hours there will be several lawsuits filed,” he said. “It’s rather unfair to business owners. The ATF has ruled on this before, and they ruled that these kits do not constitute firearms. So, we have many businesses that have started up in this field based on that information. But now they’re all going to all become registered firearms dealers if they want to stay in business that’s not an inexpensive or cheap process.”

Rochester Police Department says it has recovered some ghost guns, but a majority of firearms do have serial numbers.

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