'Ghost guns' in crosshairs of Biden firearms fight

The US government is to crack down on homemade guns bought and sold without records amid a surge in gun crimes.

The Justice department will open a national "Ghost Gun Initiative" to pursue federal charges against those involved in the trade of such weapons, President Joe Biden has said.

He announced the move on Thursday during an appearance with New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

It comes as Mr Adams calls for help to fight a "pandemic" of gun violence.

Statistics compiled by US researchers have shown a dramatic rise in gun crimes across the country as pressures from the Covid-19 pandemic created febrile atmospheres ripe with opportunity for offences.

Firearms violence in the US rose 30% in the year between the beginning of the pandemic in February 2020 and March 2021, according to a study in Nature, the science magazine.

The initiative on "ghost guns" - as unregistered homemade armaments are called - is part of a larger White House pledge to address gun violence that includes a proposal to ask Congress for an additional $300m for the Justice department.

Mr Biden said: "If you commit a crime with a ghost gun, not only are state and local prosecutors going come after you, but expect federal charges and federal prosecution as well".

These guns are self-assembled and sometimes 3D printed, which means they do not contain a serial number and cannot be traced. Background checks are also not required to purchase the assembly kits.

Although it is impossible to know how many ghost guns are in circulation, police officers have said that they are being seized more frequently during arrests.

The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) said that 10,000 were recovered in 2019. Since 2016, about 25,000 privately-made guns have been confiscated nationwide, according to a New York Times report. About 325 were used in homicides, an unnamed senior US official said on Thursday.

Mr Adams, who has frequently compared gun violence to the 11 September 2001 terror attacks, called gun violence "domestic terror that is pervasive in this city and country".

However, the former police captain, a Democrat, has irked some members of his party with his approach to solving gun crime since taking office in January. Among other measures, he has called for the use of facial recognition technology to identify people seen carrying weapons and for the city to help business owners pay to install security cameras.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents the Bronx area of New York City, decried the "tough-on-crime" rhetoric.

"Policies may be rolled out to make it look like we're being responsive to public safety, but actually could potentially be making those issues worse even if they might play well politically," she told the New York Times.