United States President Joe Biden has announced new federal gun regulations targeting do-it-yourself kits and unfinished lower receivers, as well as 3D printed firearms, which now require serial numbers and must be registered as firearms.

According to the White House, “This final rule bans the business of manufacturing the most accessible ghost guns, such as unserialized “buy build shoot” kits that individuals can buy online or at a store without a background check and can readily assemble into a working firearm in as little as 30 minutes with the equipment they have at home. This rule clarifies that these kits qualify as “firearms” under the Gun Control Act and that commercial manufacturers of such kits must therefore become licensed and include serial numbers on the kits’ frame or receiver, and commercial sellers of these kits must become federally licensed and run background checks prior to a sale – just like they have to do with other commercially-made firearms.”

Gun kits and homemade firearms have come under scrutiny by gun control advocates for their ability to be bought/made without a background check (as they were previously not considered firearms) and lack of serial numbers, which make them untraceable in registration databases. Biden stated that the new regulations are intended to curb gun violence and crime caused by “ghost guns,” which law enforcement says has been rising in recent years. According to the ATF, 20,000 ghost guns were recovered by law enforcement in investigations in 2021, a ten-fold increase since 2016. While addressing the regulations, the President made the analogy “If you buy a couch you have to assemble, it’s still a couch. If you order a package like this one over here that includes the parts that you need and directs the assembly of a functioning firearm, you bought a gun.”