New law will ban sale of 'ghost guns' in Illinois
CHICAGO (CBS)-- So-called "ghost guns" will soon be banned in Illinois.
Ghost guns are assembled from kits, often using 3-D printers, and do not have serial numbers, making them all but untraceable.
Over the weekend, Illinois lawmakers approved legislation that would make it illegal to sell or transfer gun parts or kits that do not have serial numbers. It also would require anyone who currently owns a gun without serial numbers to get them engraved and registered.
Last week, Chicago aldermen called on the Illinois General Assembly to pass the bill. The goal is to make ghost guns illegal in Illinois – with more and more of them showing up in Chicago every year.
Ghost guns can be made with a 3-D printer and an at-home kit. They are untraceable, with no serial numbers.
According to information from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the number of ghost guns - or privately made firearms - is going up every year. Ghost guns are also tied to 325 homicides or attempted homicides nationwide since 2016.
Ten states – California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington state, and also the District of Columbia – already have laws against ghost guns on the books.
Now that the bill has been approved, it heads to Governor JB Pritzker's desk.
Meantime, the White House and the Justice Department announced new steps Monday targeting the manufacture and sale of so-called "ghost guns." A new federal rule will require them to be treated like other firearms made and sold in the U.S.
Commercial manufacturers of ghost gun assembly kits will now be required to include serial numbers. Commercial sellers will also need to be federally licensed, run background checks before selling a homemade gun kit and keep records of the purchases for as long as they are in business. The current rule allows sellers to purge records after 20 years.
Vice President Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor, noted these guns pose "an especially grave threat to the safety of our communities" because of how easy they are to access and how difficult they are to trace.
