Current:Home > MySupreme Court to hear challenge to ghost-gun regulation -WealthSphere Pro
Supreme Court to hear challenge to ghost-gun regulation
View
Date:2025-04-14 09:09:50
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing a challenge Tuesday to a Biden administration regulation on ghost guns, the difficult-to-trace weapons with an exponentially increased link to crime in recent years.
The rule is focused on gun kits that are sold online and can be assembled into a functioning weapon in less than 30 minutes. The finished weapons don’t have serial numbers, making them nearly impossible to trace.
The regulation came after the number of ghost guns seized by police around the country soared, going from fewer than 4,000 recovered by law enforcement in 2018 to nearly 20,000 in 2021, according to Justice Department data.
Finalized after an executive action from President Joe Biden, the rule requires companies to treat the kits like other firearms by adding serial numbers, running background checks and verifying that buyers are 21 or older.
The number of ghost guns has since flattened out or declined in several major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Baltimore, according to court documents.
But manufacturers and gun-rights groups challenged the rule in court, arguing it’s long been legal to sell gun parts to hobbyists and that most people who commit crimes use traditional guns.
They say the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives overstepped its authority. “Congress is the body that gets to decide how to address any risks that might arise from a particular product,” a group of more than two dozen GOP-leaning states supporting the challengers wrote in court documents.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas agreed, striking down the rule in 2023. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals largely upheld his decision.
The administration, on the other hand, argues the law allows the government to regulate weapons that “may readily be converted” to shoot. The 5th Circuit’s decision would allow anyone to “buy a kit online and assemble a fully functional gun in minutes — no background check, records, or serial number required. The result would be a flood of untraceable ghost guns into our nation’s communities,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote.
The Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration last year, allowing the regulation to go into effect by a 5-4 vote. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined with the court’s three liberal members to form the majority.
veryGood! (55)
Related
- Current, future North Carolina governor’s challenge of power
- Florence Pugh hit by flying object while promoting 'Dune: Part Two' in Brazil
- This World Soil Day, take a look at the surprising science of soil
- College Football Playoff picked Alabama over Florida State for final spot. Why?
- Intellectuals vs. The Internet
- 4 arrested in honor killing of 18-year-old Pakistani woman after doctored photo with her boyfriend goes viral
- 'Colin From Accounts' deserves a raise
- Biden’s allies in Senate demand that Israel limit civilian deaths in Gaza as Congress debates US aid
- 'We're reborn!' Gazans express joy at returning home to north
- Alaska Airlines to buy Hawaiian Airlines in deal that may attract regulator scrutiny
Ranking
- A White House order claims to end 'censorship.' What does that mean?
- Friends Actress Marlo Thomas Shares Sweet Memory of Matthew Perry on Set
- Man suspected of shoplifting stabs 2 security guards at Philadelphia store, killing 1
- Rescuer raises hope of survivors at a Zambian mine where more than 30 have been buried for days
- Sam Taylor
- French investigation into fatal attack near Eiffel Tower looks into mental illness of suspect
- Deputy on traffic stop in Maine escapes injury when cruiser hit by drunken driver
- 'Madman' fatally stabs 4 family members, injures 2 officers in Queens, New York
Recommendation
'Most Whopper
Gore blasts COP28 climate chief and oil companies’ emissions pledges at UN summit
Sister Wives' Janelle Brown Details Sex Life With Ex Kody Brown
China says a US Navy ship ‘illegally intruded’ into waters in the South China Sea
In ‘Nickel Boys,’ striving for a new way to see
AP PHOTOS: 2023 was marked by coups and a Moroccan earthquake on the African continent
More Than 100 Countries at COP28 Call For Fossil Fuel Phaseout
France’s parliament considers a ban on single-use e-cigarettes