House Judiciary Committee GOP Push To Block "Ghost Gun" Regulations

AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File

President Joe Biden pledged to regulate so-called ghost guns as part of his sweeping plan to advance gun control in this country. It won’t do nearly as much as people think, of course, but Biden wants to do it.

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That’s because there’s been a fair bit of fearmongering in the media about “ghost guns,” fearmongering fed into by the ATF.

Not that it would have been necessary to spur Biden into action. The man ran on his anti-Second Amendment credentials. He would try to regulate “ghost guns” into non-existence even without all of that.

However, some on the House Judiciary Committee want him to stop.

House Judiciary Committee Republicans are pressuring the Biden administration to abandon its plans to regulate so-called ghost guns.

A May rule from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (AFT) expands the definition of a firearm to include weapons that can be assembled at home. Such weapons allow those barred from owning a firearm to skirt background checks.

The assembly kits’ parts also lack a serial number, making it difficult to trace guns that have been used in crimes.

“ATF’s rule appears to be a deliberate attempt to usurp the authority of Congress,” lawmakers wrote in a letter obtained by The Hill and spearheaded by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), adding that the rule “unconstitutionally infringed on American citizens’ fundamental Second Amendment rights.”

The proposed rule would expand what qualifies as a firearm, and those selling firearm kits would be required to perform background checks before sales.

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These gentlemen are, of course, right.

More than that, though, the moment you create a rule, someone is going to find a way around that rule. You’re not really going to stop anyone from building their own firearms. That’s just not going to happen.

However, the problem is that Biden knows Congress won’t approve this plan, so he’s going to try and do an end around the legislative branch entirely. Which is funny because we just went through four years of being told that the president was an absolute tyrant, but now the supposed saviour of our democracy is trying to cut the legislature out completely.

Granted, it’s far from the only time Biden has done this, but it’s still a problem. A big one.

It’s understandable why he’d do it, though. I mean, while he wouldn’t have any issue getting such a bill through the House, the Senate would sit on it until it dies, as they should. Such a measure isn’t needed. Yet for Biden, that’s a problem. See, like so many others who oppose the Second Amendment, Biden sees this as an issue so important that silly things like procedures and laws shouldn’t really matter. If he can’t get a bill through, he’ll just make it happen with a stroke of his pen.

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The problem, though, is that what he does here and now can have ramifications far later on. He’s giving pro-gun forces something to rally over when the midterms come, and he should know from experience–assuming he remembers it–that those forces can create a red wave that will devastate the Democratic Party for years to come.

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