The Supreme Court of the United States accepted the federal government's appeal to take up the "ghost guns" case regarding the suspension of federal regulations by a Texas district court.
The Supreme Court justices committed after a vote of five to four to hear this legal dispute between the Biden administration and the Texas court, which fought over the 2022 legislation on ghost gun parts, which do not have serial numbers. After the Texas judge's ruling against the rule of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed his decision.
Ghost guns are those that are not produced conventionally, but through templates can be produced at home by consumers. Commonly, the parts of these weapons do not have serial numbers, making them practically invisible to authorities. Democrats claim that these weapons contribute to the increase in violent crime. Supporters of these firearms and many judges across the country maintain, however, that regulating them represents an unconstitutional restriction on the Second Amendment.
The latest ATF regulations made changes to include restrictions on ghost gun parts and not just the final product. It requires producers to carry out a series of controls on parts purchased as well as for the components they sell to carry an official registration number that allows authorities to trace them.
Forth Worth, Texas, District Judge Reed O'Connor struck down the federal measures in 2023, finding that they exceeded the federal agency's authority. O'Connor wrote that the definition of a firearm under federal law does not encompass all parts of a weapon.
Now that the future of the rules is in the hands of the Supreme Court, it remains to be seen if the judges will uphold their position the last time they were involved with the case, when they allowed the measures to remain in force throughout the duration of the lawsuit between the District Court and the federal agency. Then, Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett joined their progressive counterparts to keep the rule in force. The other four conservative justices sided with District Judge O'Connor's decision to overturn.
