Everytown Supporters Drive Nearly 100,000 Comments On ATF’s Proposed Ghost Guns Rule

WASHINGTON — Today, Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action announced that they drove nearly 100,000 comments in support of ATF’s proposed ghost guns rule. The proposed rule would update the definitions of “firearm” and “frame or receiver” to cover kits and components easily assembled into untraceable ghost guns. Ghost guns are one of the fastest growing threats to public safety in the country, allowing people who shouldn’t have guns to easily purchase parts and assemble them at home in a matter of hours. 

“Untraceable, unserialized ghost guns are one of the fastest growing threats to public safety, full stop,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “We look forward to the Biden-Harris Administration swiftly finalizing this rule, which has strong support from both law enforcement and gun safety volunteers, as demonstrated by our successful comment drive.”

“Unserialized, untraceable ghost guns that don’t require background checks are one of the fastest growing threats to public safety,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “Thankfully, the Biden-Harris administration has proposed strong regulations to end the proliferation of these dangerous firearms and we’re proud to see such broad, widespread support from all those who care about our public safety in support of finalizing and implementing this rule.” 

Everytown has been on the forefront of the fight against ghost guns. In December of 2019, Everytown filed a petition for rulemaking, urging ATF to address the rising threat posed by ghost guns. In August 2020, after ATF failed to undertake the rulemaking requested by the petition, Everytown, joined by the cities of  Syracuse, NY, San Jose, CA, Chicago, IL, and Columbia, SC, sued ATF to compel the agency to correct its misinterpretation of federal law that had allowed the ghost gun threat to emerge. This year, Everytown applauded as the Biden-Harris administration rolled out a slate of strong executive actions to curb gun violence. In May 2021, pursuant to President Joe Biden’s executive action, ATF announced a proposed rulemaking that would effectively end the proliferation of ghost guns. President Biden also mentioned ghost guns as a major contributing factor to the rise in gun violence in his CNN Town Hall last month.

A copy of Everytown’s official comment on the proposed ghost gun rule can be found here.