Amit Dadon, a graduate in 2017 from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, poses for a photo on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol after rallying in April 2018 with several hundred fellow students to call for stricter gun laws in Washington, D.C.
File photo/AFP via Getty Images
There is a glimmer of hope for stronger federal laws to reduce gun violence, but many states are working actively against it. That puts everyone in every state in greater peril.
Organizations working to reduce gun violence are optimistic about getting a bill requiring universal background checks on gun sales through Congress this session. The bill, reintroduced on March 2, would expand background checks to cover private sales at gun shows and over the internet.
The senators highlighted a loophole in existing gun laws that allows purchasers to buy a ghost gun kit for a few hundred dollars, assemble it themselves. The ATF does not regulate these kits as firearms.
The use of ghost guns contributes to wider gun violence, the senators wrote, but because of the lack of regulation it can be difficult to collect data on ghost guns or investigate crimes involving the weapons. According to the Gun Violence Archive, at least 19,233 Americans lost their lives to gun violence in 2020, the highest number in the last two decades, the senator wrote. We fear the number will only increase without swift action on ghost guns.
With Democrats in the majorities in the U.S. House and Senate and with a Democrat in the White House, a push has been renewed for universal background checks for firearms ownership.
Targeted News Service targetednews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from targetednews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.