The Supreme Court granted a request on Tuesday from the Biden administration to reinstate a federal regulation targeted at limiting the production of “ghost guns” that are difficult for law enforcement to trace.
By a 5-4 decision, the justices stalled a July 5 ruling by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, which blocked the 2022 rule nationwide pending the administration’s appeal. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh said they would have denied the application for a stay.
The Biden administration introduced the regulations last year to tackle what it cited as a dramatic uptick in the availability of ghost guns, which are known as firearm-making kits available online that people can assemble or sometimes even 3D print at home.
The regulations, implemented by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, require creators or sellers of the kits to obtain a special license, mark products with traceable serial numbers, and conduct background checks while maintaining records. Those rules led to challenges in court, and so far, two federal judges have sided in favor of the government.
via joemiller
