Supreme Court to hear arguments in challenge to ATF's ghost gun rule
CBS7 days
SCOTUS Weighs Ghost Gun Regulations
story
Image copyright: Kevin Dietsch/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
On Tuesday, SCOTUS began hearing arguments in a case challenging the Biden administration's 2022 regulation of "ghost guns," which are firearm kits without serial numbers that can be obtained online and assembled in less than 30 minutes.
The justices largely framed their questions based on whether the kits could be classified as guns in order to be regulated as such.
The Spin
Republican narrative
The ATF has overstepped its authority, potentially criminalizing hobbyists and law-abiding citizens. Homemade guns are older than the country. Criminals aren't manufacturing their own weapons, so all this rule does is impose an unnecessary cost on law-abiding gun dealers, manufacturers, and owners.
Democratic narrative
It's naive to think these kits don't appeal more to criminals than hobbyists, who wouldn't get much enjoyment from something that can be assembled so quickly. Thus, the government is well within its rights to regulate — not ban — these kits to make sure they don't proliferate in communities and endanger citizens.
