U.S. Supreme Court Rules on Ghost Guns. The ATF Says DIY Kits Are “Guns.” Are They?
By Ray Hill
Professor Emeritus, Santa Rosa Junior College
Our Second Amendment mentor, Bob Phillips, is enjoying some well-deserved time off, so I’m following up on an April 22 federal case dealing with ghost guns or “undetectable weapons.”
On appeal from United States Attorney General Pamela Bondi, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision upheld a federal law that bans manufacturers from selling ghost gun kits (build-it-yourself gun kits, mainly bought online, that include all the parts of a gun but are untraceable when assembled) without embedded serial numbers.
In 2022, ATF&E enacted a new rule classifying these assembly kits as firearms under the 1968 Gun Control Act. That law defines a firearm as any weapon that is designed to or may readily be converted into a functional firearm. Gun manufacturers promptly challenged the new regulation, contending that a bunch of gun parts is not a gun.
The court ruled under the broad language of the Gun Control Act of 1968, the ATF&E was well within its authority to require those who make or sell gun kits to mark their products with serial numbers, keep records of their sales, and conduct background checks on buyers.
So, when a California resident purchases a legitimate ghost gun kit, it will come with a manufacturer-applied serial number in the same manner as any other firearm. Otherwise, the gun is illegal.
If an inventive person wants to use one’s home 3-D printer to build a ghost gun, they would have to make an application to DOJ for a unique serial number to be embedded on a piece of stainless steel attached to the firearm and follow further regulations (California Code of Regulations, Title 11, Division 5, Chapter 41, Section 5519).
The manufacture, sale or possession of an unserialized ghost gun is a wobbler (16590/24610 P.C.)
We will provide more information on this important decision in the coming weeks.
