Kramer Levin Files Amicus Brief in the US Supreme Court on Behalf of the American Medical Association and Other Healthcare Providers in Support of Federal Regulations on Ghost Guns

On July 2, Kramer Levin filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the American Medical Association, Texas Medical Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Emergency Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American College of Preventive Medicine, and American Geriatrics Society. The brief, filed in Garland v. VanDerStok, supports the reversal of a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that portions of the rule of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that address unregistered firearms commonly referred to as “ghost guns," codified at 27 C.F.R. §§ 478.11 and 478.12(c), should be struck down.

The rule is intended to effectuate the legislative purpose of the Gun Control Act of 1968, which was enacted to address firearm violence by regulating the firearms market. The rule requires manufacturers of “ghost gun" firearm kits to obtain federal firearm licenses, mark their products with serial numbers, conduct background checks and keep transfer records. It is designed to keep ghost guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals and to assist law enforcement in the investigation of serious crimes involving such weapons.

The brief explains that firearm violence was a healthcare crisis in the 1960s when the Act was enacted, and it continues to be an even greater crisis today. In the 1960s, the sale of mail-order and disassembled and deactivated firearms posed a serious danger. The prevention of anonymous firearm purchases was a fundamental purpose of the Act. Ghost firearms pose the same danger. They make it possible for individuals who are not legally eligible to possess a firearm to obtain one without a background check. And the absence of serial numbers on the firearms makes it impossible for law enforcement authorities to trace them.

The brief explains that the ATF correctly determined that the Act applies to ghost firearm kits that are readily convertible into functional firearms. The Fifth Circuit's contrary holding strips the Act of its plain meaning and ignores its legislative purpose. The broad language of the Act applies not only to firearms that are ready to fire but also to “any weapon" that “is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive" and the “frame or receiver of any such weapon." 18 U.S.C. § 921. As firearm violence continues at untenable levels, the sale of ghost guns has deadly consequences.

Read the brief here​.