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Michigan AG backs federal rule to regulate ghost guns

Nessel joins coalition of 20 attorneys general supporting rule

A 9mm pistol build kit with a commercial slide and barrel with a polymer frame is displayed before President Joe Biden and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco speak in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Monday, April 11, 2022, to announces a final version of its ghost gun rule, which comes with the White House and the Justice Department under growing pressure to crack down on gun deaths.. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (Carolyn Kaster, Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

LANSNG, Mich.Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined 20 other attorneys general in filing an amicus brief supporting a new federal rule regulating ghost guns.

Ghost guns are unserialized weapons that are often made at home from weapon parts kits or partially complete frames and receivers that can be purchased without background checks.

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The rule would help ensure that buyers pass background checks before they can purchase the kits. It would also help law enforcement trace any self-made guns that are used in a crime. It would also limit gun traffickers’ ability to distribute weapons.

“On average, more than 1,200 Michigan residents die each year from gun violence,” Nessel said. “Ghost guns continue to proliferate our streets and I have been asking ATF to close the dangerous loophole that keeps these weapons from being subject to the same regulations as other firearms. So I gladly stand with my colleagues in supporting this new common-sense rule.”

Read: Biden aims at ‘ghost gun’ violence with new federal rule

ATF’s Final Rule regulates ghost guns by clarifying definitions in the Gun Control Act. The Final Rule makes it clear that weapons parts kits and partially complete frames and receivers are “firearms” under the act.

That would make them subject to the same background check requirements as conventionally manufactured guns.

The brief was led by District of Columbia Attorney General Karl A. Racine and the Attorneys General of New Jersey and Pennsylvania and joined by the Attorneys General of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.

A copy of the brief is available below.


About the Author
Kayla Clarke headshot

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.

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