Federal judge finds so-called ghost gun rule unconstitutional

A Texas federal judge ruled Monday that the Biden administration’s rule regulating firearm kits was unconstitutional. The 2022 measure, the Final Rule, required self-assembled guns and parts kits that could be converted into functional firearms to be legally treated like any other gun. The rule required the parts kits to include serial numbers and mandated buyer background checks to help curb the proliferation of so-called ghost guns.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor held that the rule violated the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms and conflicted with the nation’s historical tradition of personal gunsmithing. He called the Final Rule ambiguous, adding that it was full of far-reaching regulations and unconstitutionally vague statements.

What are others saying? Second Amendment Foundation Executive Vice President and founder Alan M. Gottlieb released a Tuesday statement characterizing the Final Rule as intentionally vague. The updated firearm frame definition made law-abiding citizens criminals for simply owning a piece of plastic that could be converted into a firearm, he added. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives couldn’t simply make up a revised definition to fit its agenda, he concluded.

Blackhawk Manufacturing Group took part in a 2022 lawsuit against the rule and said in a statement that it and other firearms companies had been tricked into it. The ATF had been acting arbitrarily and capriciously, while making whimsical classifications based on inconsistent logic, the group added. Blackhawk called the ATF’s desire to criminalize millions of common, law-abiding American gun owners incredibly disturbing.

What have courts said about the rule before? The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 to uphold the Final Rule in March of 2025, though the court focused on the ATF’s authority under federal firearms laws and ignored the constitutionality question. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented, and Thomas wrote that the previous definitions of firearm frames sufficed for over 50 years. The ATF used to look at the objects themselves, not the templates or materials, Thomas added, urging that they adhere to the words Congress originally enacted.