Supreme Court upholds Biden administration's regulations on 'ghost gun' kits | Law Enforcement Today

WASHINGTON, D.C. - On Wednesday, March 26th, it was announced that the United States Supreme Court has voted to uphold a Biden administration effort to regulate "ghost gun" kits that allow people to easily obtain parts needed to assemble firearms from online sellers.

According to NBC News, the ruling was 7-2, with Justice Neil Gorsuch writing the majority opinion saying that the kits can be regulated under the federal Gun Control Act, saying that the court had "no trouble rejecting" the arguments made by challengers. The decision resolves the legal dispute over whether the kits can be regulated the same way as other firearms.

Issued by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the regulation includes ghost guns within the definition of "firearm" as described in the long-standing federal law that regulates guns. Gorsuch wrote that the law "embraces and thus permits ATF to regulate some weapon parts kits."

He indicated that the ruling is limited, meaning that some products that require "sufficient time, tools and expertise" to create a gun would not necessarily be covered. According to Fox News, The Justice Department said more than 19,000 hard-to-trace ghost guns were seized by law enforcement in 2021, a more than tenfold increase in just five years.

Ghost Guns are do-it-yourself functional weapons that are often purchased online and marketed by some sellers as easy to assemble. Final home assembly typically requires the use of some readily available tools, including drilling holes and mining or sanding the unfinished frame or receiver, which enable the installation of parts. In 2022, the 1968 Gun Control Act was revised to regulate the growing market for certain "buy build shoot" kits.

The law defines a "firearm" to include "any weapon ... which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive" as well as "the frame or receiver of any such weapon." The court's three liberal justices joined four conservative justices in the majority opinion. Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented. Thomas wrote, in backing the regulation, the court "blesses the government's overreach based on a series of errors." 

Thomas added, "Congress could have authorized ATF to regulate any part of a firearm or any object readily convertible into one. But, it did not. I would adhere to the words Congress enacted. Employing its novel 'artifact noun' methodology, the majority charts a different course that invites unforeseeable consequences and offers no limiting principle."

The administration said it was not seeking to ban the sale or use of these kits, merely requiring them to comply with the same requirements of other commercial firearms dealers. This includes serial numbers on the parts and background checks on the purchasers. 

Gun rights groups say that the rule is "unconstitutional and abusive," arguing the ghost gun kits consist of "non-firearm objects." The devices can also be made from 3D printers or from individual parts. That is part of separate legal challenges in the lower courts. The ATF's rule requires unfinished parts of a firearm, like the frame of a handgun or the receiver of a long gun, to be treated like a completed firearm. Those parts need to be licensed and must have serial numbers.

The rule also requires manufacturers to run background checks before selling these parts, as they are required to do for whole commercial firearms. The Trump administration could seek to rescind the rule. The high court has regularly backed gun rights in other cases, including a recent ruling striking down a federal ban on accessories called bump stocks that allow semi-automatic rifles to fire more rapidly.