The Supreme Court handed down a brief order on Tuesday that will prevent violent criminals and other individuals who are not allowed to have guns from evading a federal law requiring background checks for gun buyers. The vote was 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining the Court’s three Democratic appointees.
The case, known as Garland v. VanDerStok, concerns so-called “ghost guns,” dismantled firearms that are sold in ready-to-assemble kits.
Federal law typically requires anyone purchasing a gun to submit to a background check. It also requires guns to be marked with a serial number that can be used to track the weapon if it is used in a crime. These laws apply to “any weapon … which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive.” It also applies to “the frame or receiver of any such weapon,” the skeletal part of a firearm that houses other components, such as the barrel or trigger mechanism.
Thus, if someone purchases a series of firearm parts to assemble a gun at home, they are still supposed to face a background check when they purchase the gun’s frame or receiver.
Ghost guns are often sold as kits, a collection of gun parts that can be assembled into a functional gun. Often, the frame or receiver in this kit is sold in an unfinished state — though, according to the Justice Department, these incomplete frames and receivers are often very easy to finish. In some cases, a ghost gun buyer can build a working gun after drilling a single additional hole in the kit’s frame. In other cases, they merely need to sand off a small plastic rail.
Judge Reed O’Connor, who is known for handing down dubiously reasoned opinions that implement Republican Party policies, ruled that these ghost gun kits are immune from the laws requiring serial numbers and background checks. Recall that these laws apply to “any weapon” that can be “readily converted to…
Read the full article here