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Biden announces crackdown on 'ghost guns'

The president said gun violence in the US was an 'international embarrassment'

President Biden has announced the first in what he hopes will be a series of measures to limit gun violence in the US, a situation he calls an international embarrassment. He's using executive orders - including one to put limits on 'ghost guns': unmonitored home-made weapons and modifications which, in effect, turn pistols into rifles.

However, any more far-reaching change will require the support of Congress.

Po Murray is Chairwoman of the Newtown Action Alliance, a gun control group formed after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in Connecticut.

"Ghost guns are untraceable and unserialised, and can be put together by any criminal or terrorist or other dangerous people in their basements. The White House... can definitely take steps to make sure these weapon parts are deemed firearms so they can be regulated."

(Photo: A participant in an armed rally in January shows a gun that has a 3D printed lower receiver, a weapon known as a "ghost" gun. Credit: Ford Fischer via Reuters)

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