"Ghost Guns" in the Supreme Court

Garland v VanDerStok Hearing Link

On Tuesday, October 8, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of Garland v. VanDerStok, which concerns the ATF’s Final Rule which drastically expanded the definition of “firearm” and “frame or receiver” in order to regulate unfinished kits, jigs, parts, or materials that may be used to self-manufacture a firearm.

Additionally, the ATF greatly expanded what is defined as “engaged in the business” of dealing in firearms, so that even offering for sale, but not actually selling a firearm constitutes “engaging in the business” of dealing in firearms, and thereby subjecting a person to the regulation of federal firearm licensee requirements.   

You can listen to oral arguments here, starting at 10am PST: https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/live.aspx

The ATF purports that the Final Rule does not infringe on the Second Amendment, as people are still able to assemble or otherwise make their own firearms.  But this ignores that now parts and materials are required to be sold through federal firearm licensees.  And that pretty much everyone who ever even thinks about selling a firearm must now register as a federal firearm licensee.

The State of West Virginia and 26 other states (no, Washington is not one of them) filed an amicus brief in support of VanDerStok and the other challengers.  This means that more than half of the states, through their elected Attorneys General, believe that the ATF has overstepped its regulatory authority and has infringed on the Second Amendment.

This case could have implications on our own challenge to Washington’s ghost gun statutes, we will have more to come once oral arguments are complete and the opinion is issued. 

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John Does 1, 3, 5 v Inslee (HB1705 Lawsuit)

On March 16, 2023, Silent Majority Foundation filed an Amended Petition for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief requesting the Court enter an injunction against the implementation of the challenged sections of RCW 9.41.190 as detailed in our Amended Complaint. This filing also requests the Court to grant Declaratory Judgment declaring the challenged laws invalid as they impair individuals right to bear arms and violate the right to due process.                                                                              HB1705 unconstitutionally and categorically bans, under severe monetary and confiNement penalties, the manufacture, sale, transfer, purchase, transport, receipt of, and even possession of untraceable firearms. These bans are a broad attack on Washington’s Constitution and it’s people.