Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a scathing dissent after the court's 7-2 ruling allowing so-called "ghost guns" to be regulated, the Daily Caller reported. The law, which Thomas called an "overreach," was enacted during President Joe Biden's term.
Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito dissented from the majority opinion, which struck down a lower court's decision to block the statute the high court determined was in line with the Gun Control Act. The majority opinion was penned by Justice Neil Gorsuch, who President Donald Trump appointed.
"The GCA embraces, and thus permits ATF to regulate, some weapon parts kits and unfinished frames or receivers, including those we have discussed. Because the court of appeals held otherwise, its judgment is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion," Gorsuch wrote.
FPC LEGAL ALERT: The Supreme Court has upheld the ATF's "frame or receiver" rule. You can read the opinion here: https://t.co/qcBmmWGcBX pic.twitter.com/uMCAxV9gUq
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) March 26, 2025
Ghost guns, which are sold as separate parts that can be assembled into a firearm, could potentially fall into a regulatory gray area. The case before the Supreme Court was supposed to answer that category question.
While the majority of the court believed that parts could be regulated, Thomas didn't see it that way. “The statutory terms ‘frame’ and ‘receiver’ do not cover the unfinished frames and receivers contained in weapon-parts kits, and weapon-parts kits themselves do not meet the statutory definition of ‘firearm,'” Thomas wrote in his dissent.
"That should end the case. The majority instead blesses the Government’s overreach based on a series of errors regarding both the standard of review and the interpretation of the statute," Thomas charged.
The 76-year-old justice worries that such a broad application of the law goes beyond this case. "Employing its novel ‘artifact noun’ methodology, the majority charts a different course that invites unforeseeable consequences and offers no limiting principle," Thomas wrote.
Alito's dissent noted that the court could have struck down specific applications of law without threatening the entirety of the legislation. "A law passed by Congress or a State Legislature should not be held to be entirely unenforceable just because it would be unconstitutional to apply it in just a few situations," Alito wrote.
Proponents of rules requiring registration for these do-it-yourself gun kits believe it's necessary and not at all an infringement on Second Amendment rights. According to CNN, the law in question requires that ghost guns be traceable and registered without banning them.
In fact, some believe that the draw of these kits is precisely due to a lack of regulation. "Ghost guns are the gun industry’s way of skirting commonsense gun laws and arming dangerous people without background checks," David Pucino, Giffords Law Center deputy chief counsel and legal director, said.
"We are thrilled that the Supreme Court has upheld the ATF rule that treats ghost guns as what they are: gun," Pucino added. The 2022 legislation came after these weapons were increasingly showing up in crimes.
According to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives statistics, the number of kit guns recovered at crime scenes went from 1,600 in 2017 to more than 19,000 four years later. This led to the necessity of addressing the problem and what to do about it.
Ghost guns are difficult to trace and regulate because of how they are sold. However, if the government has any ability to regulate firearms, then it's necessary to make sure there are no workarounds for people who would otherwise not be able to own or use firearms.
