COLORADO SPRINGS — President Joe Biden announced a final ruling on Monday with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), implementing new restrictions in an effort to curb gun violence throughout the country.
The rule will require makers of gun kits, typically used by people making "Ghost Guns", to put serial numbers on the firearms and require background checks for purchase.
Paul Paradis owns Paradise Sales, a gun shop in Colorado Springs. He explained that anyone who wants to purchase a gun from his store is required to fill out paperwork and have a background check.
However, the regulations differ for people purchasing gun kits.
"It's a chunk of plastic or metal, and then you finish machining it, and then you are the manufacturer of that gun at that point and there is no background check on that."
Biden's final ruling is a part of his comprehensive gun crime reduction strategy.
"These guns are the weapons of choice for many criminals," Biden said.
Paradis does not believe the new rule will keep guns out of dangerous hands.
"Criminals have consistently been able to find a way to get guns, whether they steal them from civilians, from law enforcement, from military. That's been going on since forever."
In January, the Roncalli STEM Academy in Pueblo went into lockdown, after police say a student brought a "Ghost Gun" to school.
"We're gunna have a harder time tracing where it came from, who gave it to him, etc, because there is no identifying information on it, being a privately made firearm," said Sergeant Franklyn Ortega with the Pueblo Police Department.
Serial numbers on parts of guns make it easier for law enforcement to track the gun's history.
However, Pueblo Police say criminals find ways to ensure their weapons cannot be tracked, even if the gun came with serial numbers.
"Even guns that have serial numbers on them, you'll have criminals that file them off. So, in a way they're making a gun that is manufactured with a serial number, untraceable."
The ATF believes roughly 20,000 "Ghost Guns" were reported in 2021, about a ten-fold increase compared to 2016.
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