(RepublicanDaily.org) – Ghost guns are set to receive regulation akin to those of regular firearms – for now – as the Supreme Court ruled to uphold rules set by the Biden administration that effectively define ghost guns as regular firearms.
Ghost guns are essentially homemade firearms, whose parts are typically 3D-printed and then assembled. Unlike traditional firearms, which are made by licensed companies and can only be sold by licensed gun dealers, ghost guns can be made by anyone with the right schematics and a 3D printer and can be bought and sold by anyone on the internet. They also are also not necessarily sold as an entire unit, and come in parts usually labelled as D.I.Y. kits. No background checks are required for their purchase not are ghost guns required to have serial numbers.
Under the rules set by the federal government, manufacturers of ghost guns will now need to put serial numbers on their merchandise, as well as get a license to sell, conduct background checks and keep customer records – regulations that apply to traditional firearms. However, the regulations do not prohibit the possession or sale of kits and components.
The Supreme Court voted 5-4 in favor of the rules, which were in an emergency application of the federal government. The liberal minority – Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson – were joined by conservatives Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Amy Coney Barrett. The remaining conservative judges Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh, dissented.
Ghost guns have been a growing concern through the years, as the lack of regulation has been an attractive and tempting prospect to many, including criminals. New outlets reported law enforcement in the Tri-State area as saying that crimes involving ghost guns have been on the rise. In California, one of the states that have the strictest gun regulations, police in San Diego reported in 2021 that they recovered 211 ghost guns in the previous year, a sharp uptick from only 77 D.I.Y firearms seized in 2019. In that same year, police had already confiscated 360 ghost guns. There have also been incidents where teenagers have been killed by ghost guns mistaken as replicas.
States like Colorado have already put rules in place banning ghost guns without serial numbers, and California is also working its way toward the same goal.
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