Mayor commends Biden on new ghost gun regs, ATF nomination

Amid continuing gun violence across the city, Mayor Eric Adams Monday commended President Joe Biden’s new rules requiring makers of ghost guns include serial numbers on gun kits and the nomination of former U.S. Attorney Steve Dettelbach to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Adams called on Congress to set politics aside and quickly appoint Dettelbach as the new ATF director.

“In order to best approach this effort, we need to dam the river of gods and ghost guns that are flowing into the sea of violence in our city,” Adams said. “And the ATF needs a permanent director. And Congress should expeditiously move forward and appoint a permanent director to deal with this critical process that we are facing. I hope a position of this importance will secure bipartisan partnership because when a bullet leaves the barrel of a gun, it doesn’t ask the victim if they’re Democrat or Republican. They maim, they take life and they destroy families in the process.”

The mayor said ghost guns – guns that can be assembled from a kit and don’t have a serial number – are not taken seriously enough and pose an even greater threat than other kinds of firearms. It was a ghost gun, Adams said, that took the life of 16-year-old Angellyh Yambo last Friday.

“Ghost guns are one of the biggest threats to public safety that we face today,” Adams said. “Ghost guns are untraceable. They are just as deadly as any other gun, any other firearm. People often believe that because they are ghost guns, they are not deadly, that is just not true. They should be treated as such. And we must prosecute those who are in possession of them just as we prosecute those who are illegally in possession of firearms across this country. No one should be able to build a gun in their home in 30 minutes, (it’s) unacceptable.”

Adams said ghost guns make up 10 percent of the 1,800 guns recovered by the NYPD so far this year.