So-called ghost guns aren't anything new, especially with a definition so broad as to be laughable, which is exactly what the media likes to use. Still, the Biden administration cracked down on kits for these guns, which was a bit of an issue for those who like to make them.
Yet they're not gone forever, and NPR is freaking out because of this.
In fact, they're concerned they might be back in a big way despite the fact that "ghost guns" never went away.
The legal battle over "ghost guns" is far from over, even after the Supreme Court upheld a Biden-era regulation requiring background checks and serial numbers for certain build-it-yourself firearm kits.
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The Biden administration moved to close that loophole in 2022 with a rule requiring that certain gun kits be treated like complete firearms — and sold with serial numbers and background checks. That rule was challenged in a federal case known as Bondi v. VanDerStok, but in March the Supreme Court allowed it to stand.
"It was good that the court upheld the ATF regulation," Brooks said.
Still, gun rights groups see an opening. The high court's decision turned primarily on questions of administrative law, and left open the possibility of future challenges, depending on kit designs.
In addition, the Trump administration has ordered the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to review all Biden-era gun regulations, including the ghost gun rule. The executive order, signed in February, calls for the review of regulations "that purport to promote safety but may have impinged on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens."
They upheld it under administrative law because that's what the challenge focused on. It didn't involve the Second Amendment aspects because those challenging the law really believed the administrative aspect was an easier case. They were unfortunately wrong.
Still, because it was an administrative rule in the first place, President Trump can reverse it should he so desire. Especially since the ruling didn't preclude people from making their own guns, just the regulation of certain kits that opponents claimed required little effort or expertise to make into useable firearms.
NPR, however, is freaking out about the possibility.
Yet, they also acknowledge that someone's already created a product that gets around the current law.
Not all gun rights activists are willing to wait. Cody Wilson, known for his advocacy of 3D-printed guns, now markets a product called the G80 through his company, Defense Distributed. Though careful not to label it a gun, Wilson describes it as a kit that "you can ultimately build into a 9mm pistol, let's say."
Wilson worries the Trump administration will side with law enforcement and maintain restrictions on kit guns. So he's filed a motion in the VanDerStok case, which has been remanded back to federal court in Texas, asking for a preliminary injunction to stop the government from enforcing the ATF's ghost gun rule.
Wilson says he sees an obligation to press the question on constitutional grounds.
"I actually want there to be some law before this administration is over," he said, "that the Second Amendment includes the right to build arms and not just keep them."
It's interesting that they know about it now since I covered it two months ago when I sat down with Wilson to talk about the G80.
But the truth is that even without a product like the G80, which has gotten even more intriguing in recent weeks, you could always build your own gun. I can sit down with a 3D printer and make one right now and do so lawfully. Of course, my state doesn't prohibit the practice, unlike some other states, but there's no law against it.
Further, I already have a "ghost gun."
That gun is an old H&R .32 revolver that my grandfather bought for his sister well before serial numbers were required on guns. It doesn't have one. It's perfectly legal. It's never been in a criminal's hand so far as I'm aware--that one cousin probably didn't know about it, after all--and it's there. By the definition used for a "ghost gun," which is any firearm without a serial number, it qualifies.
And the folks at NPR are likely to soil themselves over this fact should they become aware of it.
The truth is that Wilson is right. The right to keep and bear arms has to include the various ways one can acquire arms. Under the Bruen decision, our nation's historic traditions have to be respected with regard to guns, and we've been able to build firearms in this country since before it was this country. That cannot be permitted to change.
Anti-gunners argued to NPR that this is part of an attempt to dismantle gun control throughout the nation.
They're not wrong. It most definitely is. I want to see every gun control law ground into dust. I want to see all of our rights respected, but especially the Second Amendment.
