Nation’s Leading Gun Violence Prevention Organizations Issue Statements in Response to Oral Argument in Garland v. VanDerStok

WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Earlier today, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Garland v. VanDerStok, a critical case that challenges a reckless decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. If upheld by the Supreme Court, this ruling would strike down portions of the Biden-Harris Administration’s 2022 life-saving ghost gun rule. Ghost guns are unserialized, untraceable firearms that can be easily put together in minutes from parts acquired without a background check. 

“We know that ghost guns pose an enormous threat to public safety and have been used time and time again in crimes across the nation. Before ATF clarified that ghost gun products are guns, we saw an 1000% increase in ghost guns found at crime scenes. The clarifying rule is the accurate reflection of the law, and it is essential for public safety. The fringe companies challenging the rule are doing so because they want to decimate our gun laws and sell guns to criminals. The Supreme Court’s own police force recognizes that ghost guns are guns. The Justices must too,” said David Pucino, Legal Director and Deputy Chief Counsel of GIFFORDS Law Center.

“Today, the ghost gun industry’s fiction that its gun building kits are not firearms crashed into a brick wall of reality in the Supreme Court,” said Eric Tirschwell, executive director of Everytown Law. “All or nearly all of the Justices seemed to recognize under Congress’ broad and flexible definition that a gun building kit that can quickly and easily be turned into an operable weapon is a firearm that requires a serial number and background check.”

“Ghost guns are unserialized firearms that are practically untraceable and can easily and quickly be built at home,” said Ciara Malone, Legal Director at March For Our Lives. “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck––and it appears the Supreme Court agrees with us. The government correctly argues that this reading of the statute is necessary not only to uphold Congress’ intent when creating the Gun Control Act but also to prevent widespread circumvention of the Act’s purpose. There is no other purpose to a ghost gun kit other than for a user to turn it into a fully functioning and deadly firearm, complete with instructions from the manufacturer. Allowing their unregulated sale would tear a gaping hole into our already fragile system of gun safety, allowing everyone from felons to underage minors to purchase a gun. We urge the Supreme Court to use common sense and reverse the Fifth Circuit’s dangerous decision and protect America’s children and young people.”

“For too long, the ghost gun industry has hidden behind the guise of supporting hobbyists, when we know in fact that their products are the weapon of choice for criminals,” said Douglas Letter, Chief Legal Officer at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. “The Biden-Harris administration’s rule is saving lives by regulating an industry that has flooded our streets with unserialized, untraceable weapons that evade common-sense gun regulations like Brady Background Checks. The Supreme Court Justices appear to recognize that halting the flow of these kits is paramount to our safety, and look ready to call the gun industry out on its laughable claim that these kits aren’t a major threat, making today’s oral argument a promising start in a case that will have drastic implications for the safety of our families and communities.”

“As described in the amicus brief we filed on behalf of the Major City Chiefs Association, Police Executive Research Forum, former national security officials, and current and former law enforcement officials and prosecutors, unfettered access to firearms poses a grave national security and public safety threat to the nation,” said Mary McCord, Executive Director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection and Visiting Professor at Georgetown Law.  “Ghost guns are marketed to and sought by those who seek to evade the law, including those who would be unable to obtain a firearm legally and those who seek to use an untraceable firearm to commit crimes of violence, including terrorists, drug cartels, and domestic violent extremists.Examples of their use of ghost guns abound.The ATF rule is essential to effectively combat this threat.”

“The consequences of a bad decision in this case from the Supreme Court are enormous. We cannot allow the extremist, far-right Court to erode rules and regulations rightfully put in place by ATF to prevent the flow of trafficked, unserialized, and untraceable guns into our communities,” said Adzi Vokhiwa, Vice President of Policy at Community Justice.“The manufacturers of ghost guns and ghost gun kits must not be allowed to sell the weapons and weapon parts that fuel gun violence in communities across the nation without impunity.”

How the Supreme Court decides this case will determine whether kits for assembling ghost guns will be regulated like the deadly firearms they are––by requiring serialization of major components and background checks on purchasers.

• For years, public safety advocates, gun violence survivors, top legal experts, law enforcement, elected officials, and more fought to regulate ghost guns for what they are — deadly firearms. 

• The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) resulting rule, which was finalized in April 2022 and took effect in August 2022 under the Biden-Harris administration, updated and clarified key definitions – including “firearm,” “frame,” and “receiver” – to ensure that kits and components that are easily assembled into untraceable ghost guns are subject to the same regulations as firearms. 

• The Fifth Circuit invalidated the ATF rule on November 9, 2023. Two prior challenges that would have struck down or undermined the ghost gun rule were largely unsuccessful.

• Allowing the unregulated sale of ghost gun kits and components to resume would re-open a gaping hole in our already fragile system of gun safety, allowing everyone from individuals convicted of felony offenses to underage minors to easily obtain and assemble untraceable guns.
  • Members of law enforcement, two dozen Attorneys General, and national security experts have all urged the Supreme Court to uphold the federal rule regulating ghost guns. Several leading Mayors have also joined the fight to hold this industry accountable in the courts, including in Syracuse, San Jose, Chicago, and Columbia, South Carolina. The cities of Baltimore and Philadelphia also brought cases forward.

• The ATF estimates that between 2016 and 2022, law enforcement personnel recovered approximately 71,024 unserialized crime guns. Examples of ghost gun shootings from across the country since 2013 are available here. 

• While this legal challenge is playing out in the courts, the lifesaving rule remains in place. And it’s working:
  • Early data indicates a drop in ghost gun recoveries at crime scenes since the ATF’s rule went into effect, further proving that a Supreme Court ruling affirming the rule in VanDerStok is absolutely essential to public safety. New York City, Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Oakland, and other cities reported declines in ghost gun recoveries in 2023.
  • Just last week, a report from the California Department of Justice detailed the clear risks to public safety posed by ghost guns as well as the efficacy of legislative, litigation, and law enforcement efforts in mitigating the dangers of these do-it-yourself kits. Indeed, from 2019 to 2021, ghost gun recoveries accounted for at least 53.5% of California’s total increase from homicides. But the recent progress in restricting ghost guns, including through the ATF rule, has led to a significant decrease in guns recovered from crime across the state.
  • Polymer80 – once the country’s largest producer of unserialized ghost gun kits and component parts – recentlyshut down following numerous legal and regulatory challenges, including the ATF’s rule.

• GIFFORDS Law Center’s report on why ghost guns are an existential threat to public safety can be found here. Everytown’s report on ghost guns, featuring testimonials from law enforcement officers, can be found here. Brady’s explainer on ghost guns is here and video on the ease of purchasing ghost guns can be found here.

MEDIA REQUESTS

Our experts can speak to the full spectrum of gun violence prevention issues. Have a question? Email us at media@giffords.org.

Contact