Supreme Court Sees Flurry of Activity in Ghost Gun Case

This week saw a surge of activity in a pivotal case before the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the regulation of ghost guns, firearms that can be assembled at home from kits and are difficult to trace by police due to the lack of serial numbers. A broad coalition of groups, including attorneys general, local government organizations, major city police associations, national security officials, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and gun control advocacy groups, filed amicus briefs on July 2 urging the Supreme Court to uphold federal restrictions on ghost guns. The amici support the petitioners—who include the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)—in the case. It centers on the government’s 2022 so-called “frame or receiver” regulation that subjects kits and nearly complete guns to the same rules as conventionally manufactured firearms. The rule requires people who assemble homemade firearms to add serial numbers to them and mandates background checks for consumers who buy gun assembly kits from dealers....