Supreme Court Lets ATF Regulate (Some) DIY Firearms Kits

When is a paperweight a firearm? When the U.S. Supreme Court overrules sensible lower court decisions so the federal government can regulate inert objects as if they were capable of firing bullets. That’s the result of the high court’s 7–2 ruling last week in Bondi v. Vanderstok permitting the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to enforce its “ghost gun” rule reinterpreting the law so it can treat at least some unfinished gun parts kits as functioning firearms. The case avoided the Second Amendment and dealt only with the permissible extent of administrative legal interpretations.