Supreme Court Hears New “Ghost Gun” Case

The Supreme Court said on Monday that it will review the issue of “ghost guns” and the appeal that the Biden administration had filed to regulate self-assembled weapon kits in the same way as conventional firearms.

Ghost guns are firearms that one can purchase online in parts and assemble without a tracking serial number.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals invalidated a 2022 Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) regulation that mandated a background check and serialization of the parts for law enforcement monitoring when selling weapon kits.

President Joe Biden announced the new rules in April 2022 during a White House ceremony that took place in the Rose Garden.

At the White House Rose Garden event, Biden remarked, “They call this regulation I am about to introduce excessive.” “But let me ask you this: Is it excessive to keep weapons out of the hands of people who could not even pass a background check, to protect our children, or to protect police officers?”

It will take until the fall for the Supreme Court to hear the case.

In August 2023, the Supreme Court ordered a stay of proceedings, reinstituting the federal law on ghost weapons. This move reversed a Texas federal judge’s ruling to invalidate the regulation and delayed the Department of Justice’s appeal to the Fifth Circuit. The 5th Circuit subsequently largely upheld the Texas judge’s ruling.

However, the Supreme Court has maintained the rules while the legal challenges are still proceeding.

The usage of ghost guns has increased dramatically in recent years because of their easier online ordering and quick construction.

According to the Federal Register, law enforcement discovered 1,758 ghost firearms in 2016. But in 2021, cops discovered 19,344 phantom weapons—nearly twice as many as in 2020.