Federal 'Ghost Gun' Rule Critical To Fighting Gun Violence, NJ AG Says

NEW JERSEY — A new federal rule that will requires serial numbers and background checks on assemble-it-yourself firearms kits is set to go into effect in August, and a group of state attorneys general say it can't come soon enough.

Matthew J. Platkin, New Jersey's acting attorney general, and a group representing 20 states filed a legal brief last week supporting the new federal rule, which they say will be a critical component to enforcing state laws passed to halt trafficking of the guns.

"Ghost guns" are firearms that lack serial numbers, and are often made at home from kits or partially complete frames and receivers. They can be purchased without background checks, allowing people who are barred from having firearms to circumvent the laws. They are illegal in New Jersey.

A Texas company is trying to block the implementation of the rule, which takes effect Aug. 24, claiming in a lawsuit against the Justice Department that the rule "unilaterally rewrites federal law" and interferes with the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

The Texas company, Division 80 LLC, says it will be forced out of business if the law takes effect. It does not have a federal firearms license and has operated without one on the basis of the ATF rule that will be updated.

"If the Final Rule goes into effect, Division 80 will no longer be able to continue distributing its products, putting it out of business," the lawsuit says. The company wants the rule declared unlawful and a permanent injunction put on its implementation.

The firearms kits have been rapidly growing in popularity, and as a result, authorities are seeing surging numbers of crimes committed using untraceable firearms, including by people who are barred from ownership, including kids, people who have domestic violence convictions and others with criminal convictions, the brief by Platkin and the attorneys general said.

Platkin and the attorneys general said the new rule from the Department of Justice updates the federal Gun Control Act of 1968 to cover the changes in technology that have happened in the decades since.

Since 2016, law enforcement officers have recovered more than 45,000 self-made firearms, including more than 19,000 in 2021 alone, Platkin and the attorneys general said.

"The rise of these kits revealed two problems. First, a person explicitly banned from gun possession under the GCA (Gun Control Act) could still buy a kit and assemble a fully functional gun within hours," the brief said. "Second, because the finished product was unserialized, officers could not track the gun if it was later used in a crime."

Of the 45,240 suspected ghost guns recovered from 2016 to 2021, only 445 could be traced, the brief said.

In New Jersey, nearly 40 percent of all people arrested with a ghost gun from 2021 to mid-2022 had been banned from gun ownership because of their criminal records, the brief said.

In Newark, ghost gun recoveries are up 143 percent this year, interim Public Safety Director Raul Malave said, as of mid-July.

New Jersey barred the sale of the firearms kits in 2018 but has continued to struggle with people bringing ghost guns into the state. Three men were indicted in November on charges they were trafficking the firearms into the state.

According to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the rule updates the definitions of frames and receivers — parts that make up the body of a firearm — to account for the changes in technology, which helps to close some loopholes.

The rule specifically does not ban the sale of the kits; it imposes serial number requirements and background check requirements.

"The Final Rule ensures that licensees mark kits and nearly complete frames or receivers with a unique serial number and keep records of all relevant transactions. Tracing is a critical law enforcement tool, and over 8,600 law enforcement agencies across 46 countries rely on the ATF’s web-based tracing application," the attorneys general wrote. "But that service has limited utility if a large number of unserialized guns are excluded and federal and state record-keeping laws are not enforced."