Sending Office: Honorable Adriano Espaillat
Sent By:
David.Kimelman@mail.house.gov
States are banning ghost guns, the least Congress can do is keep them out of the wrong hands.
Current Cosponsors (81): Schneider, Cicilline, Cohen, Swalwell, Cardenas, Blumenauer, Norton, Watson Coleman, Velázquez, Soto, Hastings, Dean, Raskin, Khanna, Schakowsky, (Hank) Johnson, Ocasio-Cortez, Grijalva, McGovern, (Adam) Smith, Deutch,
Case, Mucarsel-Powell, Evans, Meeks, Meng, Wasserman Schultz, Suozzi, Huffman, Ryan, Castor, Roybal-Allard, (Sylvia) Garcia, (Carolyn B.) Maloney, Clarke, (Frederica S.) Wilson, Engel, Morelle, Perlmutter, Wexton, Lipinski, DeSaulnier, Wild, Jackson Lee, McCollum,
Chu, Demings, Lowey, Kildee, Tlaib, Moore, (Barbara) Lee, (Bennie G.) Thompson, Garamendi, Rose, (Chuy) García, Pocan, Lowenthal, Keating, Torres, Scanlon, Payne, Lynch, Brown, Boyle, Sherman, Barragán, Pingree, Rouda, Sánchez, Gomez, Aguilar, (Mike) Levin, Napolitano,
Kennedy, Jayapal, Porter, Vargas, Brownley, Trone, Lieu
Endorsed By: Everytown for Gun Safety, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Brady, Newtown Action Alliance, March for Our Lives, Violence Policy Center
Dear Colleague:
At the beginning of the year, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that he would ask the state legislature to ban “ghost guns” by requiring them to be treated as firearms. Other states, including Pennsylvania and Washington, have announced similar steps.
We applaud and support these actions, but believe federal legislation is necessary to ensure that all Americans are protected and that the ghost gun loophole is fully closed. That is why we invite you to join as a cosponsor of
H.R. 1266, the Ghost Guns Are Guns Act, a bill to ensure that individuals who would otherwise be barred from purchasing firearms would not be able to purchase a gun assembly kit online
under this current loophole.
Unfortunately, ghost guns were on the rise in 2019, as we saw their use in both the August shooting in Dayton, Ohio and the November shooting
at Saugus High School in California. Currently, individuals can purchase gun assembly kits off the web without undergoing a background check. Under existing law, these gun assembly kits, which
are subject to almost no regulation, are not legally considered guns because they arrive in pieces, as opposed to being a finished product. As a result, individuals who otherwise would not be able to pass a background check or would be disqualified due to
other factors, can purchase these gun assembly kits and build their own “ghost guns.”
Guns assembled using these kits have garnered the title of “ghost guns” because they often times are completely untraceable. In many instances, these firearms are assembled using a receiver that does not have a serial number, making it almost impossible
for law enforcement officials to trace the gun back to its owner. Since becoming more available, “ghost guns” have been used more often in violent crimes. These easily accessible firearms pose serious safety concerns to our communities and law enforcement.
In order to directly deal with the issue, the Ghost Guns Are Guns Act would change existing gun law by closing the “ghost gun” loophole. This legislation would simply require that individuals purchasing gun parts or gun assembly kits be subject
to the same background checks that apply to people buying fully-assembled firearms. This is a reasonable, commonsense change that will help prevent people who would otherwise not qualify to purchase a gun from doing so. I hope that you will join
us in cosponsoring this legislation.
If you would like to be added as a cosponsor, please contact David Kimelman with Congressman Espaillat at
David.Kimelman@mail.house.gov or Jessica Bernton with Congressman Schneider at Jessica.Bernton@mail.house.gov.
Sincerely,
| Adriano Espaillat | Brad Schneider |
| Member of Congress | Member of Congress |
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