Supreme Court said the government may regulate mail-order gun kits

The Supreme Court has taken its gun jurisprudence into the modern age, holding that a gun-control law from 1968 allowed the Biden administrate to regulate gun kits that you can receive in the mail. 

The case is Bondi v. Vanderstock issued on March 26, The Court rules 7-2 that these gun kits are covered under the 1968 law. That means the administration can regulate them. The Gun Control Act of 1968 requires those engaged in importing, manufacturing, or dealing in firearms to obtain federal licenses, keep sales records, conduct background checks, and mark their products with serial numbers. The Act defines “firearm” to include “(A) any weapon . . . which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; [and] (B) the frame or receiver of any such weapon.” 

You may ask, what is a gun kit? You get the gun parts in the mail. Then you put the gun together on your own. As the Supreme Court states:

Recent years, however, have witnessed profound changes in how guns are made and sold. When Congress adopted the GCA in 1968, “the milling equipment, materials needed, and designs were far too expensive for individuals to make firearms practically or reliably on their own.” With the introduction of new technologies like 3D printing and reinforced polymers, that is no longer true. Today, companies are able to make and sell weapon parts kits that individuals can assemble into functional firearms in their own homes.

These do-it-yourself guns are all over the place. The Court says, “[P]olice departments around the Nation have confronted an explosion of crimes” involving these 'ghost guns.' In 2017, law-enforcement agencies submitted about 1,600 ghost guns to the federal government for tracing. By 2021, that number jumped to more than 19,000. Efforts to trace the ownership of these weapons, the government represents, have proven 'almost entirely futile.'” This is why the last administration regulated the gun kits.

Over two dissents, Justice Gorsuch rejects the facial challenge to the Biden regulation and holds the gun kits may be regulated under the statute. The gun kit qualifies as a “weapon” under the 1968 law because: (1) artifact nouns like “weapon” often describe unfinished objects when their intended
function is clear, as with a disassembled rifle; (2) the statute treats starter guns as weapons though they require conversion work; and (3) the statute contemplates that items other operable firearms qualify as “weapons.” The kit also satisfies the statute’s second requirement, as it requires no more time, expertise, or specialized tools to complete than a starter gun, which the statute treats as readily convertible into a functioning firearm.