The Supreme Court has ruled to keep in place the Biden administration’s recent regulation of gun build kits, or “ghost guns,” while the case is further appealed.
Last year, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) implemented a new regulation that changed the legal definition of a “firearm” to include weapon parts kits. These build kits, of which the vast majority are bought by simple gun hobbyists, are essentially unfinished firearms that require assembly to become operational.
By changing the definition of a firearm to include these kits, the ATF’s regulation now requires consumers to pass a background check to purchase them. It also requires sellers to have a serial number on the frame of the gun.
After this regulation went into effect, a District Court judge based in Texas ruled to block the ATF’s regulation. Judge Reed O’Connor in the United States District Court Northern District of Texas Fort Worth Division defended his ruling by stating that the ATF does not have the authority to change the definition of a firearm because they are not a legislative body. For such regulation to be legal, it would need to be passed in Congress.
After the Biden administration appealed the federal judge’s ruling, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision to uplift the judge’s block of the regulation while litigation continues.
The Biden administration has argued that cracking down on build kits, or so-called “ghost guns,” is essential to reducing gun violence in this country. Following the Texas judge’s block on the regulation, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar condemned the judge’s ruling and argued that it is “irreparably harming the public.”
“Once those guns are sold, the damage is done,” she wrote. “Some will already be in the hands of criminals and other prohibited persons — and when they are inevitably used in crimes, they are untraceable.”
In reality, the regulation against building kits places barriers in front of gun hobbyists and does little to prevent gun crime.
“The narrative on the left is that guns without serial numbers are untraceable and thus more dangerous than guns that do. But even guns that do have serial numbers can often be impossible to trace. Many criminals buy their guns off the black market that were originally stolen. Criminals can also simply scratch the serial number off their guns. There’s also the fact that a person can trade or sell their gun privately, making the serial number only traceable to the first person who bought it.“
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