By Andrew Chung
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a request by President Joe Biden's administration to reinstate - at least for now - a federal regulation aimed at reining in privately made firearms called "ghost guns" that are difficult for law enforcement to trace.
The justices put on hold a July 5 decision by U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth, Texas that had blocked the 2022 rule nationwide pending the administration's appeal. O'Connor found that the administration exceeded its authority under a 1968 federal law called the Gun Control Act in implementing the rule relating to ghost guns, firearms that are privately assembled and lack the usual serial numbers required by the federal government.
The rule, issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in 2022 to target the rapid proliferation of the homemade weapons, bans "buy build shoot" kits without serial numbers that individuals can get online or at a store without a background check. The kits can be quickly assembled into a working firearm.
The rule clarified that ghost guns qualify as "firearms" under the federal Gun Control Act, expanding the definition of a firearm to include parts and kits that may be readily turned into a gun. It required serial numbers and that manufacturers and sellers be licensed. Sellers under the rule also must run background checks on purchasers prior to a sale.
Conservative Justice Samuel Alito, who handles emergency matters arising from a group of states including Texas, on July 28 temporarily blocked O'Connor's decision to give the justices time to decide how to proceed.
The administration on July 27 asked the justices to halt O'Connor's ruling that invalidated a Justice Department restriction on the sale of ghost gun kits while it appeals to the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The administration said that allowing the O'Connor's ruling to stand would enable an "irreversible flow of large numbers of untraceable ghost guns into our nation's communities."
(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)