Erie County Times

Gov. Tom Wolf and Pennsylvania police officials recently announced that they would be following in line with federal ghost gun guidelines that are designed to curb gun violence.

A ghost gun is one that is untraceable because it doesn't have a serial number and is often made from a kit. 

The new federal regulations were announced by the Biden administration and will be implemented 120 days from April 26, an April 29 press release from the governor’s office said. 

Wolf said the state is ready to mirror the regulations. The regulations will require that buyers of partially manufactured frames and receivers undergo background checks, and dealers and gunsmiths in Pennsylvania who receive guns without serial numbers will now need to serialize and inventory them. The receivers are the external housings of guns that are used to make unserialized ghost guns. The new federal law also requires manufacturers of the gunmaking kits to be federally licensed and to run background checks on buyers.

“The numbers don’t lie: ghost guns are being seized and recovered from crime scenes at an alarming rate,” Wolf said in the release. “If you want to own a gun, you need to go through checks and balances that are necessary to ensure public safety. Unserialized guns are an untraceable threat to our society, that’s why we’re ready to immediately mirror this new federal regulation at the state level as soon as possible.”

Ghost guns have been a concern nationwide, including in Pennsylvania. In 2019 the City of Philadelphia started tracking ghost guns, and that year 95 seizures and recoveries were recorded. This was followed by 250 in 2020 and then a huge increase to 571 seizures and recoveries of ghost guns in 2021. This year Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania State Police have recovered 147 ghost guns total.

“Violent crime involving firearms is one of our top public safety concerns, and the existence of ghost guns can compound this issue,” Col. Robert Evanchick, Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner, said in the release. “Ghost guns can make it more difficult to solve violent crimes and hold those responsible accountable.”

York City Police Commissioner Michael Muldrow noted that whether it is in a school, mall or on a street corner, gun violence is the major threat communities are facing around the country.

“The one thing I hope we can all agree on, no matter what side of the line you fall on, is doing the things we have to do to keep our kids and communities alive,” he said in the release.

Wolf and police officials have been working hard to curb gun violence in recent years as the uptick in crime has come. In 2019 the governor signed an executive order creating a Special Council on Gun Violence. In the same year, he and Attorney General Josh Shapiro worked together to make 80% receivers classified as firearms requiring serial numbers and a background check to purchase them. Additionally, $50 million has been invested in gun violence prevention programs. 

Last year Wolf vetoed Senate Bill 565, which would have removed background requirements for concealed weapons and also overturned Philadelphia’s open carry requirements.