Susan Arbetter is reporting for Capital Tonight for the second year in a row, the New York state Senate has approved legislation addressing ghost guns, while similar measures have been neglected in the state Assembly. So-called ghost guns have no serial numbers and are untraceable, can be manufactured using 3-D printers and are frequently purchased as kits on the internet. A typical kit might include 80 percent of what someone needs to build a working gun. Because only certain elements of a gun are included in a kit, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives does not classify it as a firearm. State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, who sponsors a bill criminalizing ghost guns, said she is confident about her bill’s future. Asked why ghost gun bills have been approved by the Senate, but not the Assembly, Rosenthal said, “With COVID and the whole pandemic, last year there wasn’t an opportunity — at least in the Assembly — to pass it. I’m confident that we’ll get this done.” Rosenthal’s bill criminalizes the possession of guns without serial numbers by anyone other than a licensed gunsmith, prohibits the sale of ghost guns entirely and requires anyone manufacturing or assembling a firearm in New York to be a licensed gunsmith. It also requires gunsmiths in the state to serialize any firearms, rifles, shotguns and unfinished firearm frames. Gun rights advocates, including the NRA, deny that criminals have any interest in purchasing, or the time to order and then assemble, ghost guns. The ATF reported that approximately 10,000 ghost guns were recovered nationwide in 2019. Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.