The Supreme Court will review the Biden administration’s ghost-gun regulation, according to AP News.
The rule focuses on gun kits that are sold online and can be assembled into a working weapon in less than 30 minutes. The ready-made weapons have no serial numbers, so they are virtually untraceable.
The ruling came after the number of ghost guns confiscated by police across the country skyrocketed. Police seized 4,000 in 2018 and nearly 20,000 in 2021, according to Justice Department data. The regulation requires companies to treat the kits like other firearms, adding serial numbers, running background checks and verifying that buyers are 21 or older.
However, manufacturers and gun rights groups challenged the rule in court, arguing that it had long been legal to sell gun parts to amateurs and that most people who committed crimes used traditional weapons.
The administration, on the other hand, argues that the law allows the government to regulate guns that “may readily be converted” to shoot. As a result, a stream of untraceable ghost guns would flood into the US, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar warned.
Last year, the Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration, allowing the ruling to go into effect by a 5 to 4 vote. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined three liberal members of the court to form the majority.
