The Supreme Court sends an encouraging sign on ghost guns
Ghost guns ¸— untraceable weapons that can be assembled at home with parts, kits or components generated by 3D printers — were sent packing, as we urged, on a “one-way trip to the graveyard” in Illinois two years ago.
Our state's ban can help keep us safer from the firearms that are extremely accessible and just as deadly as any other gun. But a state-level ban only goes so far.
That's why it was good to see the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this week appear poised to uphold Biden administration regulations on ghost guns, the right step to ensure the additional layer of protection for the entire nation.
Based on the discussion during Tuesday's oral arguments, observers said Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, two of the court's conservatives, remain aligned with the three liberal judges on the matter, as they did last year when the court ruled 5-4 to allow the restrictions to remain in effect while litigation continued.
Neither Roberts nor Barrett were seemingly swayed by the arguments that ghost guns are only geared toward hobbyists, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives exceeded its authority by making sellers of gun kits comply with the same requirements as other gun dealers.
And why shouldn't they? Ghost guns can injure and kill, just like those that are ready-made.
As for the contention that gun parts aren't the same as a finished product — just as eggs, peppers and ham on a counter aren't a Western omelet — we just don't buy what Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. argued.
Barrett rightly pointed out that gun kits, like HelloFresh meal kits, end up transforming into a specific item. And these do-it-yourself guns are relatively simple to put together and have become a go-to weapon for crimes.
"If you can put Ikea furniture together, you can make one of these," an ATF special agent said a few years back.
The effortlessness that goes into building a ghost gun has not been lost on criminal suspects. The number of ghosts guns recovered by law enforcement agencies across the country jumped 1,000% between 2016 and 2021, with more than 19,000 recovered in 2021, according to the Justice Department.
In our city, Chicago police officers recovered 72 ghost guns in 2019. That number rose to 130 in 2020 and 458 in 2021.
Should the Supreme Court follow through with its support for ghost gun rules, it can help curb the bloodshed and keep deadly weapons out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them.
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