Supreme Court Will Hear "Ghost Gun" Case in 2024

The US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) made waves in the firearm world this week when they announced they would hear arguments in a case regarding unserialized firearms, or “ghost guns,” later this year. It’s an uncommon choice for the country’s high court, which doesn’t often hear firearms cases. Here are details about the recent announcement.

US Supreme Court Will Hear “Ghost Gun” Case in October, 2024

On April 22, 2024, SCOTUS granted a Writ of Certiorari in VanDerStock v Garland. In layman’s terms, that means the court will hear arguments as to whether or not bans on “Ghost Guns” are constitutional. SCOTUS will begin hearing arguments in the case on October 1, 2024.

Background

The case involves an ATF Final Rule issued on April 11, 2022. The Rule changed the legal definition of several terms, including “firearm,” “gunsmith,” “complete weapon,” “privately made firearm,” and “frame or receiver.”

There’s a lot of legalese going on here, but the Final Rule was basically an attempt to broaden the types of firearm parts that must have a serial number. It was part of the ATF’s strategy to regulate unserialized firearms, commonly known as “ghost guns.”

Currently, only the lower receiver of an AR-15 must be serialized. This specific part is fairly easy to produce at home either with a 3D printer or by milling out a block of aluminum. Some firearms companies even created kits that allowed purchasers to create their own unserialized lower receivers at home.

Before this Final Rule was issued, the ATF only considered a gun part a “frame or receiver” if it housed the gun’s fire control group (trigger group). That definition dates back to 1968 and has stood for nearly nearly 56 years.

The new definitions are currently in effect, meaning that a SCOTUS ruling has the potential to signify open season for unserialized firearms once again.

Final Thoughts

The fact that SCOTUS will be hearing this case at all is a huge win for firearms enthusiasts nationwide. SCOTUS has only heard 24 gun-related cases total since 1970 – essentially, since the legal meaning of “frame or receiver” was first defined.

It’s also one of the biggest gun cases that the court will hear since the landmark NYSPRA v Bruen case in 2020. The decision in the Bruen case has had a significant impact on gun laws nationwide, establishing a new test for whether a law is constitutional or not.

This iteration of SCOTUS is perceived as being fairly gun-friendly thanks to the Bruen decision. However, this court also had the chance to grant an injunction against the ATF’s Final Rule in August of 2022, which would have prevented it from going into effect. They didn’t do that, allowing the rule’s effects to continue.

This will definitely be an interesting case to watch with wide-ranging implications across the firearms industry. If the ATF’s Final Rule is deemed unconstitutional, build-it-yourself kits like the infamous 80% receivers would once again appear on the legal gun market.

We’ll keep an eye on VanDerStock v Garland and keep you posted as it develops.