A very rare event occurred on Wednesday. The Supreme Court upheld federal gun control, with four court Republicans taking the majority.
Neil Golsch's opinion and justice Bondiv. Vanderstok It's narrow, but challenging federal regulations targeting “ghost guns” and disassembled a firearm kit that can be easily assembled into a fully functional gun. Under federal law, guns sold in the United States must have a serial number that law enforcement can use to identify weapons. And those who buy such guns usually need to submit a background check before completing the sale.
The plaintiff in this case essentially argued that the ghost gun is exempt from these requirements as it is not functioning well when the ghost gun was purchased and therefore does not count as a gun.
The court usually has a vast view on gun rights; Vanderstock Plaintiffs mean that ghost guns will be subject to the same laws that were covered yesterday.
As Gorsuch explains, plaintiffs' arguments have a hash of relevant laws. The Act provides that background checks and serial number requirements apply to “starter guns” that are “easily designed or may be easily converted to expel projectiles by explosive action.”
The plaintiffs largely argued that ghost guns do not count as “weapons” until they are assembled. But as Gorsuch points out, people often use nouns like “weapons” to refer to items that are not completely constructed. His opinion resembles a ghost gun to authors describing unfinished manuscripts as “novels” or to consumers referring to boxes of disassembled parts that they just purchased as “tables” at IKEA.
Even though I say that Vanderstock Partially assembled guns are not considered to be subject to background checks and serial numbering laws. As Gorsuch explains, the plaintiff in this case brought a “face” challenge to ghost gun regulation. That is, they insisted that it had to be completely stuck because there was no valid situation.
It is possible to imagine an unfinished set of gun parts that should not be subject to federal regulations as it is far from completion, but many of the gun kits subject to Ghost Guns regulations are almost completely complete. As Gorsuch writes, one such kit was assembled so easily that “an individual who had never encountered before could produce a gun in 21 minutes using only the “general” tools and instructions found in public YouTube videos.”
So, the fact that there are at least some ghost gunkits that can be described in fair terms as “weapons” is sufficient to beat the face challenge.
However, Gorsuch's opinion reveals that certain kits are too far from completion and subject to background checks and serial numbering laws, revealing the possibility that someone could pose a challenge later “applied” to them. (An assignment applied allows someone to argue that even if a law or regulation applies to another person, it should not apply.)
VanderstockIn other words, it's a very small victory for the cause of gun control. But it's a victory. And at least if the law is very clear and the argument on the part of the pro-gun is very weak, this Supreme Court can support gun control.
