CNN —
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will uphold the Biden administration’s regulation of mail-order kits for “ghost guns,” which can be made in the home and are often found at crime scenes.
In one of the year’s most high-profile cases, the high court has ruled that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will be enacting a 2022 regulation that would require ghost gun manufacturers to include serial numbers on their kits and provide demonstrations. It is necessary to determine whether the authority has been violated. Background checks on purchasers.
Some of the court’s conservatives and all of its liberals seemed skeptical about the idea that the kits were aimed at the traditional gunsmithing hobby. Chief Justice John Roberts, in particular, dismissed the idea that building gun kits of the type in question is like building a classic car.
“I don’t think you’re going to get paid for just drilling a hole or two like you would for working on a car on the weekend,” Roberts told the lawyers representing the kit makers. “From what I understand, this is not that difficult to do.”
Peter Patterson, representing the manufacturers and organizations that challenged the regulations, said making the kits was far more complex than the government was suggesting. Supporters of the regulation said at a news conference that most Americans would consider a bicycle a bicycle even if it had no pedals. They claim that IKEA’s sectional sofas are still sofas before they are assembled.
How to draw the line between the assembly of parts and the finished product was a big part of the discussion, which lasted more than an hour.
“Some of us don’t have much mechanical knowledge and have spent hours assembling things we’ve bought,” Justice Samuel Alito quipped, drawing laughter in the courtroom.
“As someone who has struggled with Ikea furniture, Judge Alito, I agree with you on this issue,” U.S. Attorney General Elizabeth Preloger quipped on behalf of the Biden administration.
Although it is not a Second Amendment issue, the case is back on the high court’s docket as the 6-3 conservative majority leans to the right on this and many other issues. . In June, a conservative justice court banned bump stocks, a device that turns semi-automatic rifles into weapons capable of firing hundreds of rounds per minute, for example.
But there were signs that some members of the court’s conservative wing viewed the case differently than cases dealing with bump stocks. Even before the parties entered the courtroom on Tuesday, the justices had hinted at their thoughts on the dispute, siding with the Biden administration (twice) on the emergency record. In a 5-4 vote, the court allowed the regulations to remain in place while the litigation continues.
This does not necessarily reflect the outcome of the case, but Roberts and conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett sided with the administration at the time.
Mr. Alito led the government’s questioning, expressing skepticism about the idea that a collection of unassembled parts could be considered a gun.
“Here’s a blank pad and a pen, okay? Is this a shopping list?” Alito asked, holding up the pad in court. “When I asked to see it, there were eggs, chopped ham, chopped green peppers, and onions on the counter. Is that a Western-style omelet?”
There’s a preamble that the pen and pad can be used for a lot more than just grocery lists, and that the ingredients can be used to make other dishes. The difference here, she said, is that ghost guns are sold to be built into firearms and serve no other conceivable purpose.
Barrett jumped in to challenge Alito’s hypothesis.
“If I ordered from HelloFresh and received a kit, and it was something like turkey chili, would my answer change? But are all the ingredients in the kit?” she asked food kit delivery services. mentioned and described a situation very similar to how gun kits are sold.
Preloger said this is a better analogy.
“If you bought an omelet-making kit from Trader Joe’s that had all the ingredients to make an omelet, we would recognize it for what it is,” she said.
These DIY gun kits can be purchased without a background check
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh expressed other concerns. The administration’s regulations may leave some ghost gun sellers unaware that they are breaking the law.
“This is an agency regulation that expands criminal law beyond what it was before,” Kavanaugh asked. “For example, what happens to sellers who have no idea or are completely unaware that they are breaking the law and facing criminal charges?”
Preloger said prosecutors will need to prove that the seller knowingly violated the law. Kavanaugh called Preloger’s responses “helpful.”
A Ghost Gun is a kit that users can purchase online and assemble a fully functional gun at home. Weapons have no serial numbers, no background checks are required, and no transfer records are provided for traceability. Critics argue that it is appealing to people who are legally prohibited from purchasing firearms.
President Joe Biden’s administration said in a court briefing that police have faced an “explosive increase in crimes involving ghost guns” in recent years. In 2017, police turned over approximately 1,600 ghost guns recovered at crime scenes for tracing. Four years later, that number was over 19,000.
At issue is a 1968 law that requires manufacturers and dealers to conduct background checks, keep sales records and include serial numbers on firearms. ATF said the kit is covered by the law and can be readily incorporated into a functioning firearm, the agency said. The rules do not prohibit the sale or possession of kits, but instead require serial numbers and background checks.
Advocacy groups and five kit manufacturers filed suit, arguing that the regulation is not allowed by law. The kits are not weapons, but rather parts, they said.
A federal district court in Texas struck down the rule, and the conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals largely upheld the ruling.
Importantly, the Supreme Court considered the matter twice in an emergency docket, allowing the regulations to remain temporarily in place while the legal dispute continues. Five judges sided with the Biden administration in the first emergency request last year.
After the ruling, a lower court intervened and blocked the regulations applied to the two manufacturers. The Supreme Court again rejected this decision and allowed the regulation to continue.
A decision in Garland v. Vanderstock is expected by next summer.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN Chief Supreme Court Analyst Joan Biskupic contributed to this report.
