What happened
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 Wednesday that "ghost guns" can be regulated like other firearms under the 1968 Gun Control Act, upholding a 2022 interpretation of the law by former President Joe Biden's administration. The decision, written by conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, allows the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to require serial numbers, background checks and sales receipts for the build-it-yourself gun kits. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.
Who said what
Police recovered more than 19,000 ghost guns from crime scenes in 2021, a 1,000% jump from 2017, but there has been a "sharp decline" since the rule took effect, Daniel Webster at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions told The Washington Post.
The ruling was a "rare win" for gun control advocates before this "conservative high court," said CNN. In 2022, the court's "conservative supermajority dove headlong into the deep end of a constitutional pool that seemed to make gun control very hard to defend in court," NPR said. But since then, most of the justices have "seemed a bit hesitant about heading back to the deep end."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What next?
The Trump administration "has not said whether it would enforce or rescind the ghost gun restrictions," the Post said. Gorsuch's ruling also "left open the possibility" that some fragmentary kits might "fall outside the regulation," The Wall Street Journal said.
-
The controversial Free Birth SocietyThe Explainer Influencers are encouraging pregnant women to give birth without midwife care – at potentially tragic cost
-
Wes Anderson: The Archives – ‘quirkfest’ celebrates the director’s ‘impeccable craft’The Week Recommends Retrospective at the Design Museum showcases 700 props, costumes and set designs from the filmmaker’s three-decade career
-
Is conscription the answer to Europe’s security woes?Today's Big Question How best to boost troop numbers to deal with Russian threat is ‘prompting fierce and soul-searching debates’
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
The ‘Kavanaugh stop’Feature Activists say a Supreme Court ruling has given federal agents a green light to racially profile Latinos
