Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will hear the Biden administration’s appeal of a 5th Circuit ruling that sought to overturn commonsense rules to regulate “ghost guns.” Following the announcement, Nick Wilson, senior director of Gun Violence Prevention at the Center for American Progress, released the following statement:
We welcome today’s announcement by the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the Biden administration’s appeal of the 5th’s Circuit’s decision prohibiting the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from regulating untraceable “ghost guns.” Last November, a panel of three judges appointed by former President Donald Trump ruled that “ghost guns”—unserialized firearms built from kits you can order online—cannot be regulated like traditional firearms.
Since anyone can buy one without a background check, ghost guns are increasingly the weapon of choice among individuals who are legally prohibited from buying guns. Law enforcement recovered more than 19,000 ghost guns from crime scenes in 2021, a 1,083 percent increase from 2017. The Biden administration’s regulations requiring these firearms to have serial numbers and buyers to have background checks will make our communities safer if the U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t stand in the way.
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