Pa. judge puts hold on state ‘ghost guns’ policy

HARRISBURG >> A Pennsylvania judge Friday put a freeze on a new state police policy regarding sales of partially manufactured gun frames that can be made into working pistols and rifles.

Commonwealth Court Judge Kevin Brobson issued the preliminary injunction about three weeks after state police provided guidance to gun dealers about how to perform background checks for sales of what are often called 80% receivers or unassembled “ghost guns.”

Brobson said the plaintiffs, businesses that manufacture and sell the gun frames, have raised a legitimate question about whether the state police policy is too vague. He said he would be open to revisiting the scope of his injunction, depending on what state police does in response.

“The harm of threatened enforcement of an unconstitutionally vague policy, derived from statute, cannot be remedied after the fact,” Brobson wrote. He noted that federal regulators, unlike the Pennsylvania State Police, have a process that allows manufacturers to submit their products for review and classification.

State police announced earlier this month that gun dealers must call the state gun-purchase background check system for sales of the 80% receivers and are not permitted to simply use the online system.

Joshua Prince, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said Friday he was pleased and argued the new policy put people at risk of criminal and civil penalties “in relation to something that not even the Pennsylvania State Police could define.”

Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro in December issued a legal opinion that the 80% receivers are firearms under state law, leading the state police to develop the background checks procedure and a new form for their sales.