Creators: The US Supreme Court Takes up Ghost Guns

Matthew T. Mangino
Creators Syndicate
October 8, 2024

The U.S. Supreme Court opened its new term this week with a near-record-low approval rating of 43%, according to a recent Gallup poll.

The new term promises to be closely followed with a number of politically charged cases, including another gun rights case. Last term, the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on bump stocks in a 6-3 decision. Bump stocks are so-called conversion devices for semiautomatic AR-style rifles — allowing a rifle to fire like a machine gun.

This term, the justices will hear arguments on the regulation of ghost guns. The untraceable guns are assembled without serial numbers. Ghost gun kits can be bought online without presenting identification or undergoing the background check required by federally licensed dealers. The gun kits can be purchased anonymously through a variety of methods commonly used online.

Under federal law, gun manufacturers and dealers have to obtain a federal license, keep records of gun sales and transfers, conduct background checks, and in the case of manufacturers, stamp the firearms with serial numbers. Law enforcement officials use those serial numbers to track guns used in crimes.

The problem for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was that these rules don't apply uniformly to homemade guns, which have become increasingly popular.

Between 2016 to 2022, ATF agents saw a tenfold increase in reports of ghost guns. In fact, 14,000 suspected ghost guns were recovered by law enforcement and reported to the ATF in just five months last year, according to the Justice Department.

Not to mention, firearm violence generally is a public health tragedy. According to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 48,204 people died by firearms in the United States in 2022 — an average of one death every 11 minutes.

In 2022, in an effort to deal with ghost guns, the ATF implemented a rule amending the definition of a "firearm" to include certain weapon components that "may be readily converted into firearms," as well as certain partially complete, disassembled or nonfunctional frames or receivers.

According to the Constitutional Accountability Center, an organization that filed a "friend of the court" brief in the matter before the Supreme Court, "The ATF's rule is consistent with the plain text of the GCA (Gun Control Act of 1968)."

According to the CAC, the ordinary meaning of the GCA's phrase "may be readily converted" indisputably covers the kits and devices specified in ATF's rule, which "may be readily converted" into fully functional firearms.

The CAC argues that when an "amateur working at home transforms a weapons parts kit into a finished state with fairly quick efficiency, that person 'readily ... convert[s]' the kit into a weapon that 'expel[s] a projectile by the action of an explosive' within the meaning of the GCA."

The rule's challengers have argued that the changes made by ATF are "inconsistent" with the definition of a firearm, according to NBC News. "An incomplete collection of parts isn't a weapon," they argued in their brief to the Supreme Court, and it's up to Congress, not the ATF, to decide whether privately made guns should be regulated.

The question is whether a majority of this Supreme Court — which often, as we saw last year, takes an expansive view of gun rights — will sign onto this attempt to evade background checks and serial numbers for ghost guns.

In 2023, in a surprising alignment of justices, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court's three Democratic appointees in issuing a temporary order to leave the status quo — the background check and serial number requirements — until the high court resolves the ghost gun issue.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on the ATF rule on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024.

Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg, Garbett, Kelly & George P.C. His book "The Executioner's Toll, 2010" was released by McFarland Publishing. You can reach him at www.mattmangino.com and follow him on X @MatthewTMangino.

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