A recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States once again put on the table the thorny issue of gun control in that countryís and opened a new battlefront between the strong organizations that support its free and unrestricted sale and those that advance activism in favor of tougher legislation against its proliferation and possession by civilians.
The high court ruled on Tuesday, August 8 in favor of reestablish a regulation against the free sale and without rules of the so-called ‘ghost weapons’ -either ghost guns–, in what represents a triumph of the administration of President Joe Biden, who had made the request before the highest court in the country.
The decision was made by five votes in favor to four against and in the ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the three Democratic members of the court to form a majority. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas supported keeping the regulation on hold during the appeals process.
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The regulation of ‘ghost weapons’ was implemented by the Joe Biden government with the aim of drawing attention to this type of weapon, in a country where every day 120 Americans are killed with firearms, according to Every Town For Gun Safety, a gun violence prevention NGO.
The rule was issued last year and changed the definition of a firearm under federal law to also include unfinished parts in the designation of ‘weapon’, used for weapon assembly, such as the frame of a pistol or the receiver of a long gun, so that they could be more easily traced.
The frame or receiver is the part of a firearm that allows the integration of other components, such as the hammer, bolt, firing pin, barrel, stock, firing mechanism and optical sights.
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According to the executive order, those parts must be licensed and include serial numbers. Manufacturers are also required to run background checks on any buyer prior to a sale, as they do with other commercially manufactured firearms. The rule does not prohibit people from purchasing a kit or any type of firearm.
Federal Judge Reed O’Connor of Texas had vacated the order.at the end of June of last year, on the grounds that it exceeded the authority of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). O’Connor wrote that the definition of a firearm in federal law does not cover all parts of a weapon and indicated that Congress could change the law.
“The liberty interests of law-abiding citizens who wish to engage in historically lawful conduct of building their own weapons, outweighs competitive government interest in preventing prohibited persons from illegally possessing firearmsO’Connor said.
O’Connor’s ruling allowed anyone with internet access to “anonymously purchase a kit from parts or a partially complete frame or receiver and easily assemble a firearm.”
After the Supreme Court ruling, the government regulation is back in force while the administration appeals O’Connor’s ruling to the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, and possibly later to the Supreme Court.
Businesses and gun-free advocacy groups that challenged the rule told the Supreme Court that O’Connor was right and that the ATF had departed from more than 50 years of regulatory practice by expanding the definition of a firearm.
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“We are deeply disappointed that the court has paused our defeat of the ATF rule that effectively redefines ‘firearm’ and ‘frame or receiver’ under federal law,” said Cody J. Wisniewski, general counsel for Firearms Policy Coalition Action Foundation. “Regardless of the decision, we are still confident that we will once again defeat ATF and its illegal rule in the Fifth Circuit when that court has an opportunity to review the full merits of our case,” he added.
‘Ghost Weapons’
By law, weapons in the United States must be manufactured by licensed companies. These are negotiated by sellers, who must also be authorized to offer them to the public.
All weapons manufactured in the country, and those imported, must carry serial numbers, which generally appear on the back of the mount. That allows them to be traced if they have been used in a crime.
On the contrarythe so-called ‘ghost guns’ are those that are sold for parts and can be assembled in a buyer’s house, even if he does not have a license to carry it. Anyone can buy a kit to assemble a weapon in physical stores or through the Internet. They can also be made with 3D printers.
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Buyers of ‘ghost guns’ were not required to have a background check to acquire the items, prior to federal regulations adopted by the Biden administration.
In the United States, kits labeled ‘do it yourself at home’ are very popular on the internet and they are often made up of a chassis in 80 percent, that is to say the weapon is built in 80 percentand all each buyer has to do is purchase the remaining 20 percent and assemble it.
The weapon that results from this assembly does not have a serial number, has not been registered or has gone through controls.a key hook for the sale of the kits, since these data are what the authorities use to track the weapons, from who manufactures them to who sells them.
According to a report by Everytown For Gun Safety, an assembly kit for an AR-15 rifle costs only $345 (1’417,000 pesos).
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Another aspect that seduces potential buyers of ‘ghost weapons’ is their ease of assembly. On some web pages it is indicated that This process can take between one to two hours.since the kit is sold with instructions to do it and with links to access online tutorials.
Everytown for Gun Safety claims that the top five most viewed YouTube tutorial videos for assembling a gun have more than three million views. A drill is almost the only tool used for assembly.
These are homemade weapons (…) Consequently, anyone, from a criminal to a terrorist, can buy this kit and in just 30 minutes, assemble a weapon
By the way these kits are sold, minors and people with mental disorders – who are prohibited by law from owning firearms – can have access to them.
The day he signed the order to ban ‘ghost weapons’, President Biden said that “these are homemade weapons (…) Consequently, anyone, from a criminal to a terrorist, can buy this kit and in just 30 minutes, assemble a weapon.”
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The legal sale of guns is protected by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. and any attempt at control is rejected by the defenders of this amendment, mainly Republicans who have a lot of power in Congress.
used in firefights
Firearms assembly kits have been sold since the 1990s, but sales began to skyrocket since 2009.
In the last decade, ‘ghost guns’ have been behind numerous shootings in the United States. According to their carriers, they would not have passed the background checks to buy them legally in a store.
According to the Center for American Progress, an independent, nonpartisan policy institute based in Washington, in 2013 the use of a ‘ghost weapon’ in a shooting set off alarm bells. It happened when a gunman murdered five people near Santa Monica College in California.
According to a report by The Trace –a non-profit US news outlet dedicated to news related to weapons in the United States–, In California alone, 30% of guns recovered in 2019 by law enforcement lacked serial numbers.
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A report from the KABC-TV channel assured that in 2020 in California 41% of the weapons they dealt with were ‘ghost’.
Although it is not new ‘ghost guns’ have become a growing problem that worries Americans more and more, above all because there are no exact statistics on the number of this type of weapon in the hands of civilians, because before the regulations of the current government they were not required to have a serial number and to possessors a background check.
But there are some data that give an idea of the magnitude of the phenomenon. According to the Department of Justice, the different police departments recovered 19,300 homemade weapons in 2021, five times more than those seized or found at crime scenes in 2018.
And the number of weapons that the ATF tracked, according to figures from that entity, it went from 217,000 in 2015 to more than 393,000 in 2020.
regulations
The challenged rule simply requires ghost gun kits to be regulated like the weapons they are. will save lives
According to the Giffords Law Center for the Prevention of Gun Violence, 10 states and the city of Washington have enacted measures to limit and ban the purchase or use of ‘ghost guns’, with Maryland being the most recent to do so in April of this year.
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Precisely the Giffords Center ruled on the recent Supreme Court ruling and stated in a statement that “the challenged rule simply requires that ghost gun kits be regulated like the weapons they are. It will save lives.”
Virginia is one of the states that does not have this type of legislation, although it does have the ‘red flag law’, which does not allow people who may pose a risk to themselves or others possess, purchase or transport firearms.
And although different legislators and politicians from the Democratic Party continue to urge the ATF to make the regulation that temporarily leaves the Supreme Court standing, while the appeals are resolved, is more rigorously enforced, the active and vigorous pro-gun front has fiercely challenged that legislation.
In fact, it has already been challenged by conservative legal groups, based on existing laws on the possession and use of firearms and, especially, on the Second Amendment, which protects “the right of an individual to carry a firearm.” hand for his personal defense outside the home”.
OGER ZUZUNAGA RUIZ
THE COMMERCE (PERU) – GDA
With information from EL TIEMPO
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