It’s time for “ghost guns” to disappear. We have long supported reasonable regulation and restrictions on the use of firearms. We agree with the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who said “the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.” The majority of Americans support tougher firearms laws. In 2021, 52% of Americans surveyed by Gallup said they wanted stricter laws on the sales of guns; by contrast, 11% wanted those laws loosened.
In a city where violent crime and murder remain outrageously high, firearm restrictions are a necessity. Yet a minority of Americans fiercely opposed almost all gun restrictions. For them, we suggest a common ground: The nation should accelerate efforts to ban the production and sale of ghost gun kits and parts, which are used to build untraceable weapons that have no serial numbers or other identifying markers.
“You do not need a background check to purchase a ghost gun kit or parts, which allows prohibited and dangerous individuals to evade federal and state gun regulations,” says Brady: United Against Gun Violence, a group that supports gun restrictions. “The availability of ghost gun parts and kits is creating a gaping, and dangerous, loophole that undermines currently enacted gun-related regulations,” it says. A ghost gun was allegedly used by a student in the Olathe East High School shooting last week. A ghost gun was allegedly used in a recent murder-suicide in Lenexa. Ghost guns may be responsible for the rise in violent crime in several U.S. cities. President Joe Biden announced plans for tougher ghost gun restrictions nearly a year ago. Last February, he announced the National Ghost Gun Enforcement Initiative, designed to help local prosecutors file ghost gun cases. Yet progress has been slow. Steve Howe, the Johnson County district attorney, said more must be done to get ghost guns out of the wrong hands.
