Weeks after ghost gun was used in Olathe school shooting, President Biden makes reforms
President Joe Biden announced plans Monday to make “ghost guns,” such as the one used in a recent Olathe school shooting, traceable. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who attended the White House event, called the action a bold and life-saving measure.
The rule, which goes into effect immediately, applies in part to ghost guns, an unregulated type of firearm built using either a kit or a collection of individual parts without a serial number. Such weapons are beyond the reach of authorities who track firearms.
Biden said the measure gives the untraceable guns “a return address.” It requires that the guns and kits have serial numbers and that prospective buyers undergo background checks. Firearm dealers will also be required to add serial numbers to existing ghost guns.
“Too often in Kansas and Missouri we throw up our hands and suggest that there will always be this flood of illegal firearms on our streets,” Lucas told reporters following the announcement. “I think what we saw today is that there can be steps that are taken.”
Lucas, who is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Criminal and Social Justice Committee, was among a small group of mayors, including those from San Jose, Los Angeles and Oakland, who attended the announcement at the Rose Garden.
“When gun fire rings out in the community, it brings fear and it brings pain to the victims, to those who love them, to the parents who tell their children to run into the bathtub when they hear gunfire on the street outside, because it is the safest place in the home from a stray bullet,” Vice President Kamala Harris said Monday.
Many Kansas Citians know this all too well.
Last year, Kansas City saw its second-deadliest year on record, with 157 killings, according to data maintained by The Star, which includes killings by police. In 2020, 182 people were killed, making it the worst year on record.
Homicides have generally risen over the past 20 years. Since 2000, Kansas City has recorded just five years that did not exceed 100 lives lost as community leaders grapple with solutions.
This year alone, 37 people have been killed, mostly by gun violence, in Kansas City, according to data tracked by The Star.
“We need to remain committed to saving lives on the streets of our community,” said Lucas, who ran on a platform of reducing homicides.
The mayor also repeated a statistic he’s cited often: More than 4,000 people have been killed in Kansas City in his lifetime, the majority by firearms.
He said any steps to put up roadblocks on paths that take illegal firearms to Kansas City are vital, whether ghost guns or other illegal weapons.
Ghost guns in the KC metro
Several weeks ago, a ghost gun made headlines in the Kansas City metro when an Olathe East High School student was accused of using the untraceable weapon in an exchange of gunfire at the school.
The student, 18-year-old Jaylon Elmore, the school resource officer and an assistant principal were all injured. Elmore faces a charge of attempted capital murder.
The Olathe East shooting on March 4 came just six days after a ghost gun also was used in the fatal triple shooting in Lenexa, which police have ruled was a double murder-suicide, court records show.
The incidents highlight the need for federal regulation of untraceable gun kits and parts, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said at the time.
“We knew they existed, but here within a couple weeks we’ve seen where people have lost their lives or been injured in very public situations,” he said. “It’s now time for us to start having a conversation with our Congress about putting some restrictions and not allowing people to buy these firearms.”
Ghost guns have increasingly become a problem across the country, said John Ham, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. While it’s difficult to trace ghost guns, he said in 2020, nearly 24,000 were reported to ATF by law enforcement as being recovered in criminal investigations.
Ham said while the Midwest hasn’t seen the influx of ghost guns, or “privately manufactured firearms,” as they are sometimes called, that the West Coast has experienced, their numbers are increasing in the region.
However, he couldn’t offer an exact count.
“It only takes one [gun] to result in tragedy, but firm numbers are impossible and something that we just don’t have,” he said.
Officer Donna Drake, a spokeswoman with the Kansas City Police Department, said two investigations have been linked to ghost guns in the past few months, but that the department doesn’t specifically track the number of ghost guns recovered.
“Ghost Guns are guns—and they should be treated as such. I support this latest action from @POTUS, which will save lives and help curb the gun violence epidemic that continues to devastate communities across the country,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver tweeted Monday.
While ghost guns exist in the metro, Ham said the largest concern continues to be guns used in crimes that were first stolen in residential burglaries or stolen from vehicles.
On average last year, about two guns were stolen each day from vehicles in Kansas City, a number one police official called “staggering.” Some have been traced to homicides.
Then in March, the ATF issued a notice revoking the license of gun manufacturer J.A. Industries, formerly Jimenez Arms.
This announcement came about a year after Kansas City, Illinois and Everytown for Gun Safety sued the ATF for granting J.A. Industries a firearms license. The lawsuit alleged that the ATF conducted a deficient investigation before granting the license in a pattern of what they said was lax oversight by the federal agency. This contributed to gun trafficking and criminal activity in Illinois and Kansas City, the lawsuit alleged.
In early 2020, Kansas City sued Jimenez Arms alleging the gun manufacturer, along with firearms businesses and individuals, formed a trafficking ring that provided guns to known felons. That year became the deadliest on record for homicides in Kansas City.
In addition to the announcement on ghost guns, Biden also nominated Steve Dettelbach to serve as the ATF’s director in a move that he said will help give the ATF the leadership needed to enforce gun laws and prevent gun violence.
