Despite historic inflation numbers and low marks, President Joe Biden is doubling down on gun control.
On Monday, he announced a final rule to ban so-called “ghost guns” and used the occasion to nominate Steve Dettelbach, a failed Democratic Ohio Attorney General candidate, to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE).
Unfortunately for Biden and Democrats, pushing sweeping policies that target law-abiding gun owners will hurt their midterm election prospects.
Banning “Ghost Guns” Won’t Deter Crime
Gun control advocates and their media backers have a new target in their crosshairs: “ghost guns.” The White House announced their final rule:
This final rule bans the business of manufacturing the most accessible ghost guns, such as unserialized “buy build shoot” kits that individuals can buy online or at a store without a background check and can readily assemble into a working firearm in as little as 30 minutes with equipment they have at home. This rule clarifies that these kits qualify as “firearms” under the Gun Control Act, and that commercial manufacturers of such kits must therefore become licensed and include serial numbers on the kits’ frame or receiver, and commercial sellers of these kits must become federally licensed and run background checks prior to a sale – just like they have to do with other commercially-made firearms.
What are these firearms, and are they frequently used in crime?
It’s a politically-charged term for unserialized custom-built guns kept for non-commercial uses. Homemade firearms, even those built with 3-D printers, are being made into a boogeyman. Yet they aren’t a new creation. In fact, their origin traces back over 500 years.
“But the big takeaway about the history is that these privately made firearms have been around for centuries, basically since the first system was developed over 500 years ago,” firearms historian Ashley Hlebinsky told the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee last May.
“I know a lot of people here don’t necessarily like some of the technology that exists today, but I really want to make the point that innovation also means making firearms safer,” she added.
As for criminal use of “ghost guns,” Bearing Arms columnist Tom Knighton noted only 325 homicides since 2016 involved them— totaling 0.36 percent. He wrote, “What the White House and gun control advocates miss is that despite the gloom and doom about unserialized firearms, they’ve only been used in 325 homicides since 2016. That’s just 0.36% percent of all homicides. That’s fewer than the average number of people who are accidentally killed with a firearm annually.”
Yesterday, Senate Republicans introduced the Congressional Review Act Joint Resolution of Disapproval (CRA) to counter Biden’s executive order. The CRA, if passed, would “prohibit the Department of Justice from implementing a new rule expanding the definition of a firearm in an attempt to crack down on “ghost gun” kits.”
And there’s hope Biden’s “ghost gun” rule will be invalidated by the courts. Last December, Nevada’s ban was found unconstitutional after a judge ruled the law’s vague definition of "unfinished frame or receiver" would cause Polymer80 "significant economic loss" and simultaneously violated the state constitution’s due process clause.
We Don’t Need David Chipman-Lite at the ATF
The selection of Steve Dettelbach as ATF chief should equally concern American gun owners.
Is he David Chipman 2.0? Given his past statements, endorsements from gun control groups, and questionable positions, he’s not far removed from the failed nominee.
The Reload’s Stephen Gutowski uncovered Dettelbach is an election conspiracist, writing, “The new nominee to head the ATF has a history of employing heated rhetoric to question the integrity of elections.
Steve Dettelbach, who was recently nominated to run the agency by President Joe Biden (D.), railed against Ohio’s election laws when he was the Democratic nominee for Attorney General. He repeatedly described Ohio’s elections as “rigged” and accused his Republican opponent Dave Yost of “rigging” them.”
Like Chipman, Dettelbach supports curbing lawful gun ownership through banning so-called “assault weapons” like AR-15s, enacting extreme risk protection orders (ERPO) without Fourth Amendment protections, and supporting universal background checks. He also was endorsed by the gun control group, Everytown for Gun Safety, during his failed campaign for Ohio Attorney General in 2018.
Gun Control is Now Fringe
Despite the White House’s gun-grabbing push, states are fighting back with their own antidote: constitutional carry legislation.
Governor Brian Kemp (R-GA) just signed the Georgia Constitutional Carry Act into law, declaring, “SB 319 makes sure that law-abiding Georgians – including our daughters and your family, too – can protect themselves without having to ask permission from state government.”
Kemp elaborated, “The Constitution of the United States gives us that right – not the government.”
As of this writing, the Peach State is the 25th state to adopt permitless carry. And more states could join them.
Conclusion
This is the gun control movement’s last stand. And their leaders know it.
To them, Biden hasn’t disarmed us enough—grading Biden’s performance, thus far, as a D+.
Gun control is now unpopular with Americans— especially among new minority and women gun owners. And voters now trust Republicans to advance gun policy in Congress.
Bad news for Democrats in November.
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