The Biden administration approved the largest expansion of background checks for gun purchases in decades on Thursday.

Why it matters: The new rule, which is almost certain to be challenged in the court, would require thousands of gun sellers to register as federally licensed firearms dealers. They would then have to run criminal and mental health background checks on potential buyers.

Robert R. Card II, 40, of Bowdoin, is the primary person of interest in the largest mass shooting in Maine’s history, according to the Maine Information and Analysis Center, the intel unit of the Maine State Police.

Police began receiving calls about an active shooter incident in Lewiston at 6:56 pm Wednesday.

Media reports indicate there are 22 people dead and several dozen more injured, though police officials were reluctant Wednesday evening to confirm those numbers.

A shelter-in-place has been issued for Androscoggin County as Maine law enforcement agencies search for a person of interest in a mass shooting in Lewiston Wednesday night. 

People in the area are asked to stay inside and off the roads while police continue to search for a suspect or suspects.

Reports of the shootings began at about 6:56 p.m. Lewiston Police Department Lt. Derrick St. Laurent told NEWS CENTER Maine shootings happened at Sparetime Recreation and Schemengees Bar and Grille Restaurant.

A manhunt is underway Thursday morning for a gunman who opened fire at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday killing and injuring dozens, sending the state’s second-largest city into chaos.

The Lewiston Police Department said it is looking for 40-year-old Robert Card as a person of interest and warned he should be considered armed and dangerous.

Authorities ordered residents and business owners to stay inside and off the streets.

The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with the Biden administration, temporarily allowing enforcement of regulations over so-called "ghost guns" that can be made from kits at home.

The administration appealed a federal judge’s earlier ruling tossing out the regulations. In a 5-4 vote, the high court put that ruling from Texas on hold while the case is appealed further on the merits. The regulation will be enforced while the case is appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and possibly further to the Supreme Court. 

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Biden administration to temporarily reinstate a rule by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives regulating “ghost guns” while a challenge to the rule continues in a federal appeals court. In June, a federal judge in Fort Worth, Texas, had barred the ATF from enforcing the rule anywhere in the United States. Urging the justices to intervene, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar had told the justices that the order by U.S.