Biden administration aims to roll out ghost gun rule, sources say
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will come out with its longawaited ghost gun rule — aimed at reining in privately made firearms without serial numbers that are increasingly cropping up at crime scenes — as soon as Monday, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
Completion of the rule comes as the White House and the Justice Department have been under growing pressure to crack down on gun deaths and violent crime in the country.
The White House has also been weighing naming Steve Dettelbach, a former U.S. attorney from Ohio, to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, the people said.
Biden had to withdraw the nomination of his first nominee, gun-control advocate David Chipman, after the nomination stalled for months because of opposition from Republicans and some Democrats in the Senate.
For nearly a year, the rule has been making its way through the federal regulation process.
Gun safety groups and Democrats in Congress have been pushing for the DOJ to finish the rule for months. It will probably be met with resistance from gun groups and draw litigation in the coming weeks.
The exact timing of the announcement hasn’t been set, the people said. They could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity. The White House declined to comment.
On Sunday, the Senate’s top Democrat, Sen. Chuck Schumer, of New York, implored the administration to move faster.
“It’s high time for a ghost gun exorcism before the proliferation peaks, and before more people get hurt — or worse,” Schumer said in a statement. “My message is a simple one: No more waiting on these proposed federal rules.” Ghost guns are “too easy to build, too hard to trace and too dangerous to ignore.”
DOJ statistics show that nearly 24,000 ghost guns were recovered by law enforcement at crime scenes and reported to the government from 2016 to 2020. It is hard to say how many are circulating on the streets, in part because in many cases police departments don’t contact the government about the guns because they can’t be traced.
Gas prices dropping: The average U.S. price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline dropped 10 cents over the past two weeks to $4.27 per gallon as oil prices continue to “yo-yo,” industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday.
The price at the pump was $1.32 above what it was one year ago, according to the Lundberg Survey taken Friday.
Nationwide, the highest average price for regular-grade gas was in Los Angeles, at $5.85 per gallon. The lowest average was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at $3.52 per gallon.
According to the Lundberg Survey, the average price of diesel was $5.13 per gallon, down 10 cents over two weeks.
NYC mayor tests positive:
New York City Mayor Eric Adams tested positive for COVID-19 Sunday, his 100th day in office, according to a spokesperson.
The first-term Democrat woke up with a raspy voice
Sunday and took a PCR test that came back positive, spokesperson Fabien Levy said in a statement. Earlier Sunday, Levy had tweeted that Adams had taken a rapid test that came back negative but took the additional test out of an abundance of caution.
Adams has no other symptoms but has canceled all public events for the week and will be taking antiviral medications and working remotely, Levy said.
New York City has been averaging around 1,800 new cases per day — not counting the many home tests that go unreported to health officials.
Iowa shooting: Gunfire at a Cedar Rapids nightclub left two people dead and 10 wounded early Sunday, authorities said.
Police said in a news release that the shooting happened shortly before 1:30 a.m. at the Taboo Nightclub and Lounge, and officers patrolling downtown
were able to respond quickly.
The police didn’t say whether there was one or more suspected shooters, what might have led to the shooting or whether they had arrested anyone, but they did say there was no lingering threat to the public.
Police also didn’t release the names of the victims or the condition of the wounded.
Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell expressed dismay about the shooting and lauded the police response.
Texas abortion case: A Texas district attorney said Sunday that he will ask a judge to dismiss a murder charge against a woman who allegedly gave herself an abortion.
Lizelle Herrera was arrested Thursday in Rio Grande City, a community of about 14,000 people along the Mexico border, after a Starr County grand jury indicted her March 30
for murder for causing the death of a fetus or embryo through a self-induced abortion.
District Attorney Gocha Allen Ramirez said Sunday that his office would move to dismiss the charge Monday.
“In reviewing this case, it is clear that Ms. Herrera cannot and should not be prosecuted for the allegation against her,” Ramirez said in a statement.
Australia election: Australia’s prime minister has called for a May 21 election that will be fought on issues including Chinese economic coercion, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday advised Governor-General David Hurley as representative of Australia’s head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, to set the election date.
Morrison’s conservative coalition is seeking a fourth three-year term.
He urged voters to stick
with a government that delivered one of the lowest pandemic death tolls of any advanced economy rather than risk the opposition Labor Party.
Paskistan politics: The ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan in a parliamentary no-confidence vote early Sunday set Pakistan on an uncertain political path, with his supporters taking to the streets in protest and the political opposition preparing to install his replacement.
Tens of thousands of Khan supporters marched in cities across Pakistan, waving large party flags and vowing support.
The youth, who make up the backbone of Khan’s supporters, dominated the crowds.
Khan’s successor is to be elected and sworn in by Parliament on Monday. The leading contender is Shahbaz Sharif, a brother of disgraced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.