{"id":1485145,"date":"2024-08-22T00:55:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T04:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1485145"},"modified":"2024-08-22T00:55:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T04:55:00","slug":"supreme-court-urged-to-overturn-federal-ghost-gun-regulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/supreme-court-urged-to-overturn-federal-ghost-gun-regulation\/1485145\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Urged To Overturn Federal ‘Ghost Gun’ Regulation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Supreme Court Urged To Overturn Federal ‘Ghost Gun’ Regulation<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

A former police officer challenging the federal government\u2019s rule regulating so-called ghost guns that can be assembled at home urged the Supreme Court on Aug. 13 to strike down that rule.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The new filing previews the arguments that will be made when the Supreme Court hears the high-profile case, Garland v. VanDerStok, on Oct. 8.<\/p>\n

The petitioner is U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. The lead respondent who brought the original lawsuit is Jennifer VanDerStok, a high school teacher and former police officer in Texas who wants to make her own firearms.<\/p>\n

\u201cGhost gun\u201d is a term used to describe a homemade firearm that lacks a serial number and therefore can\u2019t be tracked by law enforcement.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although some states regulate homemade guns, gun control organizations have been trying for years to ban or regulate homemade guns and gun-assembly kits at the federal level but have failed to persuade Congress to act.<\/p>\n

President Joe Biden has claimed that privately made guns, which are often made with gun kits, are the \u201cweapons of choice for many criminals.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The regulation in dispute\u2014the government\u2019s \u201cframe or receiver\u201d rule\u2014dates to April 2022. It requires individuals who assemble homemade firearms to add serial numbers to them. The rule also mandates background checks for consumers who buy gun kits from dealers.<\/p>\n

Pieces of guns that are shipped are nonetheless guns and are subject to existing laws, the government argues.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In June 2023, U.S. District Judge Reed O\u2019Connor disagreed. He blocked the rule and determined that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which is part of the Department of Justice (DOJ), went beyond its statutory authority in regulating \u201cpartially manufactured firearm components, related firearm products, and other tools and materials.\u201d<\/p>\n

In July 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sided with O\u2019Connor. In September 2023, the judge narrowed his injunction, but the DOJ told the Fifth Circuit he was ignoring the Supreme Court\u2019s October 2023 order that temporarily reinstated the rule.<\/p>\n

Also in October 2023, the Fifth Circuit said it disagreed with the DOJ\u2019s argument, but at the same time found O\u2019Connor\u2019s injunction \u201csweeps too broadly\u201d because it affected persons who were not participating in the litigation.<\/p>\n

The circuit court vacated the part of the injunction that applied to gun kit customers, saying it did so based on the federal government\u2019s assurances that it \u201cwill not enforce the Final Rule against customers who purchase regulated \u2018frames or receivers\u2019 and who are otherwise lawfully entitled to purchase firearms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal government appealed the ruling, filing a petition with the Supreme Court on Feb. 7, which granted it on April 22.<\/p>\n

In the new brief<\/a> filed on Aug. 13, VanDerStok says that the federal Gun Control Act (GCA) of 1968 regulates firearms, which are defined as \u201cany weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive,\u201d and \u201cthe frame or receiver of any such weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around the same time, a regulation defined \u201cframe or receiver\u201d as \u201cthat part of a firearm which provides housing for the hammer, bolt or breechblock, and firing mechanism, and which is usually threaded at its forward position to receive the barrel.\u201d<\/p>\n

A breechblock closes the rear end of the barrel and blocks gases from escaping.<\/p>\n

That definition \u201csaid nothing about precursors of frames or receivers or parts kits,\u201d the brief says.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But in April 2022 the ATF created a rule that expanded the definition of \u201cfirearm.\u201d The rule defined \u201cframe or receiver\u201d to encompass \u201cprecursors that \u2018may readily be … converted to function as a frame or receiver.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The rule defined firearm \u201cto include weapon parts kits that \u2018may readily be … converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive.\u201d The rule also modified the definition of \u201cframe or receiver\u201d to cover the \u201chousing only of the breechblock (for receivers) or one component of the firing mechanism (for frames),\u201d the brief says.<\/p>\n

The changes included in the rule \u201care inconsistent with the GCA\u2019s definition of firearm,\u201d and parts kits are not \u201cfirearms\u201d within the meaning of the statute, the brief says.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is key that when Congress passed the statute it chose \u201cto focus on the commercial firearm market rather than the private making of firearms for personal use.\u201d This means the law does not cover \u201cthe items used in private firearm making that ATF attempts to regulate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only Congress, not the ATF, gets to make the changes the ATF desires, the brief says.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In its petition<\/a>, the DOJ previously argued that the rule should be upheld because it \u201cmakes clear that a weapon parts kit that allows a purchaser to readily assemble an operational weapon is a \u2018firearm.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThose provisions of the Rule reflect the plain meaning of the relevant provisions\u201d of the GCA, which the Fifth Circuit \u201cfailed to meaningfully analyze.\u201d<\/p>\n

The circuit court\u2019s interpretation \u201cwould frustrate the Act\u2019s design and make it trivially easy to circumvent the central requirements of the federal firearms laws,\u201d according to the petition.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Epoch Times reached out to the DOJ for comment on the new brief but did not receive a reply by publication time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nWed, 08\/21\/2024 – 20:55<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/supreme-court-urged-overturn-federal-ghost-gun-regulation<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Supreme Court Urged To Overturn Federal ‘Ghost Gun’ Regulation Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times, A former police officer challenging the federal government\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1485146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1485145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1485145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1485145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1485145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1485146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1485145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1485145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1485145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}