(WASHINGTON, DC) – The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to accept a call from the Biden administration on hard-to-track regulation ghost weapons which had been overturned by the lower courts.
The judges for a 5-4 vote had already intervened to keep the regulations in force during the legal fight. Ghost guns, which do not have serial numbers, have been appearing at crime scenes with increasing regularity.
The regulation, which took effect in 2022, changed the definition of a firearm under federal law to include unfinished parts, such as the frame of a firearm or the receiver of a long gun, so they can be more easily tracked. These parts must be licensed and include serial numbers. Manufacturers must also perform background scanning prior to sale, as with other commercially manufactured firearms.
The requirement applies regardless of how the firearm was manufactured, meaning it includes ghost guns made from individual parts or kits or by 3D printers. The rule does not prohibit people from purchasing kit or any type of firearm.
The Justice Department told the court that local law enforcement agencies seized more than 19,000 ghost guns at crime scenes in 2021, a more than tenfold increase in just five years.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, struck down the rule last year, concluding that it exceeded the authority of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. O’Connor wrote that the definition of a firearm in federal law does not cover all parts of a gun. Congress could change the law, he wrote.
A panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, made up of three appointed by then-President Donald Trump, largely upheld O’Connor’s ruling.
The Supreme Court allowed the regulation to remain in force while the process continues. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberal members to form the majority. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas would have kept the regulation suspended during the appeals process.
Barrett, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh were nominated by Trump.
Discussions will not take place before the fall.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
