The federal government can regulate some “ghost guns” that can be made from kits under a federal law requiring vendor licensing, buyer background checks and stamping with serial numbers, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives adopted the regulation at issue in 2022 to combat the proliferation of unregulated ghost guns. In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court upheld the regulation as not inconsistent with the language of the Gun Control Act.
The ATF interpreted the Gun Control Act to apply to weapons parts kits that are designed to, or can be readily converted to, guns. The regulation also treats parts for frames and receivers, the building blocks for guns, as firearms subject to the law.
In the March 26 opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch said the Gun Control Act “embraces, and thus permits ATF to regulate, some weapon parts kits and unfinished frames or receivers.”
The opinion included photos to illustrate the kinds of parts kits and frames that can be regulated under the law.
The Gun Control Act says it applies to any firearm, including any weapon, “which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive.” The law says it also applies to “the frame or receiver of any such weapon.”
The Supreme Court ruled in a facial challenge, which considers whether the regulation is invalid on its face and not whether it is invalid when applied to particular products.
The opinion included photos of Polymer80’s “Buy Build Shoot” gun parts kit and the finished product, a Glock-variant semiautomatic pistol.
“It is so easy to assemble,” Gorsuch said, “that in an ATF test, an individual who had never before encountered the kit was able to produce a gun from it in 21 minutes using only ‘common’ tools and instructions found in publicly available YouTube videos.”
Products such as the Buy Build Shoot gun are within the reach of the Gun Control Act, Gorsuch said.
“Admittedly, our reasoning here has its limits,” Gorsuch wrote. “Just because some kits, like Polymer80’s, qualify as ‘weapons’ that ‘can readily be converted’ into working firearms does not mean all do. Think of the problem of the heap: Start with a heap of sand and begin removing grains; at some point, a heap no longer exists.”
Another photo shows the complete frame of a Glock-variant pistol and a second partially complete frame sold by Polymer80. The only differences are the red plastic tabs on Polymer80’s product that can easily be removed by a person with novice skill. It becomes fully functional after the tabs are removed and a few holes are drilled for pins that hold the parts in place.
The pictured Polymer80 frame is within the gun law’s reach, Gorsuch concluded.
“Recall the author who refers to her manuscript as a novel, or your friend who calls his Ikea kit a table. In much the same way, an ordinary speaker might well call Polymer80’s product a firearm ‘frame,’ even though a little work is required to complete it,” Gorsuch said.
Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito dissented in separate opinions.
The case is Bondi v. Vanderstok.
Hat tip to SCOTUSblog, which had early coverage of the decision.