WASHINGTON, DC – The Supreme Court rules that the Biden v. Garland Department of Justice’s “ghost gun” rule (a sensational term coined by Joe Biden’s allies to refer to firearm parts without serial numbers) violates the rights of law-abiding gun owners. A hearing will be held to determine whether or not to do so.
Attorney General Merrick Garland issued regulations in 2022 arguing that federal law requires serial numbers for certain parts that may be assembled to create a usable firearm. This crosses a line that previous administrations opposed to Second Amendment rights have been unwilling to cross, and will lead to a legal challenge before the nation’s highest court during the 2024 election.
The Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA), the most sweeping federal gun control law in history, was passed when liberal Democrats held majorities in both houses of Congress and President Lyndon Johnson was in the White House. The GCA was passed several years before the Supreme Court recognized that the Second Amendment guaranteed a fundamental right to keep and bear arms.
The GCA created a firearm serial number system that requires all firearms manufactured in the United States to have a unique serial number, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) creates a firearm serial number system that requires all firearms manufactured in the United States to have a unique serial number. We have made it possible to track firearms up to that.
The retailer keeps a record of people who purchase firearms using that serial number. This allows police to contact the gun store and find out who purchased the firearm if it is later recovered as part of a criminal investigation.
That provision of the GCA has always been interpreted to refer to completed firearms. But in 2022, Garland promulgated a rule extending that requirement to firearm parts. This significantly expands the scope of the Biden administration’s regulation of the firearms industry, increasing the cost of manufacturing and selling firearms, making firearms more difficult for Americans to obtain, and forcing many firearms manufacturers and distributors out of business. It will be.
The Biden and Garland regulations were challenged under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). Judge Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas agreed that Garland’s regulations exceeded any legal authority the federal government had under the GCA. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed in relevant part.
Garland asked the Supreme Court to reconsider the issue. The justices agreed to do so on Monday, and arguments could be heard closer to Election Day.
The case is Garland v. VanderstockU.S. Supreme Court No. 23-852.
Breitbart News senior legal contributor Ken Kurkowski is a lawyer who has worked in the White House and the Department of Justice. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @kenklukowski.
