Supreme Court Allows Biden ‘Ghost Gun’ Rule To Remain

The Biden administration’s new “ghost gun” rule will remain in effect, at least temporarily, after being given the go-ahead by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. The administrative stay applies through Oct. 16.

The federal government argued that lower courts effectively set aside a prior ruling by the high court. Alito’s order allowed the government regulation to briefly continue.

Anti-Second Amendment activists employ the term “ghost gun” to describe unfinished parts of a firearm that do not have serial numbers. Hobbyists for centuries have assembled their own weapons, and kits are now commercially available.

Back in August, the high court resurrected the regulations against these gun kits after U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas struck them down.

This began a judicial seesaw.

Two companies which manufacture gun kits returned to the district court to enjoin the regulations pending their appeal. They are Defense Distributed and Blackhawk Manufacturing Group, d.b.a. 80 Percent Arms.

This injunction was granted by O’Connor in September, and this action was then upheld by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. The appeals court limited the injunction to only apply to the manufacturers. 

This action, however, is now on hold due to Alito’s order.

The Biden administration’s case was argued by U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar. She said in her application to vacate the injunction that the bench made “an authoritative determination” back in August to keep the “ghost gun” regulations intact.

That act, Prelogar declared, meant that lower courts did not have the ability to intervene. Her claim was that the district court and then the Fifth Circuit ignored that restriction and acted anyway.

She said the judges faced “the rare application where this Court has already applied the relevant legal standard in the very same case and determined the government should obtain emergency relief.”

The controversy arose last year when Biden’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) changed its regulations over these kits. It said the government should be able to more easily track the parts and finished products.

In an action that many felt could be taken only by the elected Congress, the ATF determined that the “frames and receivers” are legally firearms and subject to federal laws. In this circumstance, they would be required to have serial numbers and subject to record-keeping.