US supreme court blocks ‘ghost gun’ makers again from selling at-home kits
The US supreme court on Monday barred two Texas-based manufacturers from selling products that can be quickly converted at home into firearms called “ghost guns”, granting a request by Joe Biden’s administration to once again block a federal judge’s order that had sided with companies.
The justices lifted Fort Worth-based judge Reed O’Connor’s 14 September injunction barring enforcement of a 2022 federal regulation – a rule aimed at reining in the privately made firearms – against the two manufacturers, Blackhawk Manufacturing and Defense Distributed.
The rule was issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to target the rapid proliferation of these homemade weapons. It bans “buy build shoot” kits that individuals can get online or at a store without a background check or the usual serial numbers required by the federal government. The kits can be quickly assembled into a working firearm.
The decision marked the second time that the justices acted against an order by O’Connor in the case. In August, they halted the judge’s previous decision blocking the regulation, reinstating the rule while an appeal proceeds.
The administration had said O’Connor’s decision to grant an injunction favoring ghost gun kit makers despite the prior intervention by the justices “openly flouted” the supreme court’s authority.
The rule expanded the definition of a firearm under a 1968 federal law called Gun Control Act to include parts and kits that may be readily turned into a gun. It required serial numbers and that manufacturers and sellers be licensed. Sellers under the rule also must run background checks on purchasers prior to a sale.
The administration has said that ghost guns are attractive to criminals and others prohibited from lawfully buying firearms, including minors.
There were about 20,000 suspected ghost guns reported in 2021 to the ATF as having been recovered by law enforcement in criminal investigations – a tenfold increase from 2016, according to White House statistics.