WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday begins another battle over gun restrictions, as justices consider the Biden administration’s move to ban “ghost gun” kits that allow people to stockpile lethal weapons at home in violation of existing rules.
The administration wants the kits to be regulated in the same way as other firearms, meaning manufacturers and sellers would have to obtain licenses, mark products with serial numbers, require background checks and keep records.
The case comes just months after a federal court issued a ruling that regularly upholds gun rights ban on bump stocks – a gun accessory that allows semi-automatic rifles to fire rapidly was illegal. In another gun case that marked a victory for the Biden administration, the trial in June supported the federal law prohibits orders that prohibit domestic violence victims from possessing firearms.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which repealed the ban in 2022, said in a case now before nine judges that ghost guns are regularly used by violent criminals because they are difficult to track.
In court filings, Attorney General Elizabeth Prelogar, representing the ATF, cited “the urgent public safety and law enforcement crisis posed by the exponential increase in untraceable firearms.”
New York City alone has seized hundreds of ghost guns and related parts, according to a briefing provided by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
The ban is currently in effect, with the Supreme Court ruling last year refuses to block while litigation continues. The 5-4 decision could be an indication of how the justices will ultimately decide the case.
Then Chief Justice John Roberts and fellow conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the three liberal justices in the majority.
The new regulation clarifies that parts used to make ghost guns qualify as a “firearm” under the Federal Firearms Control Act, meaning the government has the authority to regulate them in the same way it regulates firearms made and sold through the traditional process.
The law states that the rules apply to “any weapon … designed or capable of being easily converted to fire a projectile by the action of an explosive.” It also covers “the frame or receiver of any such weapon”. The frame or receiver is the part that holds the other components of the firearm, including the firing mechanism.
The case reached the Supreme Court last year after Judge Reed O’Connor of the US state of Texas ruled in favor of Jennifer VanDerStock and Michael Andre, who owned the components they wanted to use to create the weapon. Plaintiffs include gun rights groups and makers and sellers of phantom guns.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled largely for the challengers.
Petitioners focus on the text of the Gun Control Act and say in their briefs that the law does not just apply to gun kits. They argue that the ATF does not have the unilateral authority to ban ghost guns, which Congress must act if it wants to do so.
The regulation significantly expands the language in the law by saying it covers items that can be easily converted for use as a frame or receiver, opponents’ lawyers wrote.
“It violates the plain text of the statute,” they said.
Those who defend the existence of ghost gun kits say they are mostly used by hobbyists, rejecting the government’s argument that they are favored by criminals.
Although a gun case, the legal issue does not involve the right to bear arms under the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution.