Recently, President Joe Biden has taken initial steps to crack down on “ghost guns” — gun kits that can be assembled without any regulation — in response to the high number of mass shootings occurring across the nation.

   “Acknowledging that more aggressive actions like banning assault weapons, closing background check loopholes and stripping gun manufacturers of their immunity from liability lawsuits would have to wait for action from Congress, he said that it was nonetheless vital to do what he could on his own to confront what he called an ‘…epidemic of shootings that are killing roughly 100 Americans a day,’” according to The New York Times (nytimes.com).

   According to CNN, “The executive actions, which Biden repeatedly argued did nothing to impinge on the Second Amendment right to bear arms, include efforts to restrict weapons known as ‘ghost guns’ that can be built using parts and instructions purchased online” (cnn.com).

   “Biden said he wanted the Justice Department to issue a regulation within a month to require that the components in the kits have serial numbers that would allow them to be traced and that the weapons be legally classified as firearms, with the buyers subjected to background checks,” according to the New York Times (nytimes.com)

   “The moves are limited in scope and fall short of the steps Biden has vowed to pressure Congress to take. Still, they fulfilled his pledge last month to take ‘common sense’ steps on his own, and one move, more heavily regulating arm braces used to make firing a pistol more accurate, directly relates to the March shooting in Boulder, Colorado, where such a device was used. They took on new urgency coming on a day when the country experienced two more mass shootings, this time in Bryan, Texas, and Rock Hill, South Carolina,” according to CNN (cnn.com)

   Biden’s regulations have faced pushback from gun rights advocates. According to The Washington Post, the National Rifle Association announced a two million dollar campaign to fight Biden’s agenda, including opposing his nominee for director of the ATF, David Chipman (washingtonpost.com).

   “More than four hundred thousand dollars are to be spent in Maine, West Virginia, and Montana on television ads that say “Stop Biden’s gun grab. The ads are designed to influence senators whose votes may be in play as the gun control debate unfolds. Advertisement campaigns are also being organized in Florida, Arizona, and Pennsylvania, according to The Hill,” (thehill.com).