MAJOR VICTORY FOR GUN SAFETY IN THE COURTS: Supreme Court Upholds Life-Saving Ghost Gun Rule in Bondi v. VanDerStok, Everytown Law Responds

NEW YORK – In a life-saving decision, the United States Supreme Court today upheld the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) rule regulating ghost guns like the deadly firearms they are. Ghost guns are unserialized, untraceable firearms that can be easily put together in minutes from parts acquired without a background check. The ATF rule was finalized in April 2022 and took effect in August 2022.

“This Supreme Court decision is great news for everyone but the criminals who have adopted untraceable ghost guns as their weapons of choice,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “Ghost guns look like regular guns, shoot like regular guns, and kill like regular guns — so it’s only logical that the Supreme Court just affirmed they can also be regulated like regular guns.”

“We applaud the Supreme Court for doing the right thing by upholding a lawful and critical rule that protects public safety, and by rejecting the gun lobby’s extreme legal agenda,” said Eric Tirschwell, executive director of Everytown Law. “The ATF ghost gun rule has broad support from state and federal law enforcement, who have all affirmed it is crucial to keeping our communities safe – and data shows it is reducing the number of ghost guns recovered at crime scenes nationwide. We look forward to seeing this downward trend continue.”

“At 17, my son, Guy, was badly wounded when he was shot with a ghost gun by a minor too young to legally purchase a pistol. No one should have to go through the trauma of learning that your child has been shot and may not survive,” said Denise Wieck, a volunteer with Moms Demand Action and a gun violence survivor whose son was shot and wounded by a ghost gun in 2021. “Though Guy suffers the consequences of the gunshot wound to this day – including an epilepsy diagnosis, anxiety, and the loss of an eye – we have both turned our grief into power through education and advocacy. We are deeply relieved by today’s ruling, which will help ensure that a tragedy like ours never happens again.”

The ATF’s rule updated and clarified key definitions, including “firearm,” “frame,” and “receiver” to ensure that kits and components that are easily assembled into untraceable ghost guns are subject to the same regulations as firearms. As the legal process has played out, the rule has remained in effect – and data shows it worked:

– Early data indicates a drop in ghost gun recoveries at crime scenes since the ATF’s rule went into effect, further proving that a Supreme Court ruling affirming the rule in VanDerStok is absolutely essential to public safety.New York City, Baltimore, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Oakland, and other cities reported declines in ghost gun recoveries in 2023.

– New LAPD 2024 Crime Statistics further confirm this trend: the recovery rate of ghost guns at crime scenes across Los Angeles has dropped by 50% since 2022, in the wake of litigation to hold industry bad actors accountable, and since the passage of federal and local rules and laws to regulate these gun-building kits for what they are — deadly firearms.

– In October, a report from the California Department of Justice detailed the clear risks to public safety posed by ghost guns as well as the efficacy of legislative, litigation, and law enforcement efforts in mitigating the dangers of these do-it-yourself kits. From 2019 to 2021, ghost gun recoveries accounted for at least 53.5% of California’s total increase from homicides. But the recent progress in restricting ghost guns, including through the ATF rule, has led to a significant decrease in guns recovered in connection with crimes across the state.

– Polymer80 – once the country’s largest producer of unserialized ghost gun kits and component parts – recently shut down following numerous legal and regulatory challenges, including the ATF’s rule.

For years, public safety advocates, gun violence survivors, top legal experts, law enforcement, elected officials, and more fought to regulate ghost guns for what they are — deadly firearms. Read more about Everytown’s efforts to hold this industry accountable here. Everytown has compiled examples of ghost gun shootings from across the country since 2013, available here. Everytown’s report on ghost guns, featuring testimonials from law enforcement officers, can be found here. 

Litigation and policy experts as well as survivors of shootings involving ghost guns are available for interviews to discuss. Please reach out to press@everytown.org to coordinate.