The Supreme Court is set to review a regulation from the Biden administration concerning ghost guns this Tuesday.
Ghost guns are firearms that can be assembled from kits, making them untraceable and increasingly associated with criminal activities.
This regulation targets kits sold online that can be transformed into functional weapons in under 30 minutes. Finished ghost guns lack serial numbers, making them nearly impossible for law enforcement to track.
Under the new regulation, these kits are treated like conventional firearms. This means they must have serial numbers, require background checks, and buyers need to be over 21 years old.
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This rule was established via an executive order from President Joe Biden.
According to the Justice Department, ghost gun seizures surged from less than 4,000 in 2018 to nearly 20,000 in 2021.
Since the new regulation was enacted, the number of ghost guns found in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Baltimore has either leveled off or decreased, as documented in court filings.
Gun manufacturers and advocacy groups are contesting the rule, asserting that it’s always been lawful to sell gun parts to hobbyists and that most crimes are committed with traditional firearms.
They argue that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has exceeded its jurisdiction.
“It’s Congress that should determine any potential risks posed by products,” stated a group of over two dozen GOP-led states supporting the challengers.
In 2023, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor from Texas ruled against this regulation, a decision that the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals largely supported.
The Biden administration counters that federal law permits regulation of weapons that can easily be converted into functional firearms.
According to Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the 5th Circuit’s ruling could let anyone purchase a kit online and quickly assemble a workable gun without any background checks, records, or serial numbers, potentially flooding communities with untraceable ghost guns.
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Biden administration, allowing the regulation to go into effect with a narrow 5-4 vote.
Conservative Justices John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett joined the three liberal justices in temporarily reinstating these federal ghost gun regulations.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press