United States: Supreme Court examines regulation of controversial “ghost guns”

The United States Supreme Court will analyze an appeal this Tuesday against federal regulation of “ghost guns.” These are sold in easy-to-assemble, “buy-build-fire” kits, and do not carry a serial number. Joe Biden’s administration has been working on arms saleswhose easy access and mass shootings are problems that increase every year in the country.

Gun manufacturers and owners oppose a 2022 rule by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that requires these ghost guns to have serial numbers, just like the others, and that buyers undergo a criminal record check.

The ATF rule also requires that sellers of these kits are licensed and maintain registration.

The Prosecutor’s Response to Gun Control

Regarding these kits, the attorney general Merrick Garland defended the norm under the protection of the Gun control law of 1968. He estimates that the protection “makes it difficult for criminals and other people (…) to obtain untraceable weapons.”

According to ATF figures, almost 20,000 ghost guns were recovered at crime scenes in the United States in 2021, a figure tenfold higher than in 2016. Some of these Weapons include parts made by 3D printers, sold online or in stores in kits that can be assembled at home.

Gun manufacturers and gun rights groups challenged the ATF rule. A federal judge in Texas (south) ruled that the ATF had exceeded its powers because such a change requires the approval of Congress.

Gun advocates versus Supreme Court

Gun rights groups allege that an “incomplete set of parts is not a ‘weapon'”. They also stated that ghost gun kits should not be considered “firearms” according to the Gun Control Law.

The legal advisor of the Biden administration, Elizabeth Prelogarcompares the distributors of these kits with the Swedish giant Ikea. The advisor maintains that if a State levied taxes on furniture, “Ikea could not avoid paying them by claiming that it does not sell any but rather sells ‘furniture kits’ for the buyer to assemble,” she maintains.

“The same goes for weapons: a company that is dedicated to selling kits that can be assembled into functional firearms in a matter of minutes (…) is dedicated to selling firearms“, argument.

The president’s government Joe Biden He appealed to the Supreme Court after the district court ruling was upheld by a conservative-majority appeals court. The Court, by a 5-4 margin, stayed the lower courts’ order pending Tuesday’s oral arguments in the case.