"Ghost guns" case returns to trial court to decide whether New York can regulate them

The State of New York has sued certain gun manufacturers for selling materials that allow you to make "ghost guns," defined as homemade guns that lack serial numbers and are therefore untraceable. That led to a series of motion practice and appeals examining whether these ghost guns are legal or whether the State can enjoin their production. The case reaches the Court of Appeals again, which declines to issue a conclusive ruling.

The case is New York v. Arm or Ally, LLC, a summary order issued on February 26. While the trial court initially denied defendants' motion to dismiss the case, finding the State had asserted a claim against the manufacturers in that the materials qualified as "firearms" under the Gun Control Act, the Court of Appeals in 2024 heard oral argument but held the appeals in abeyance because the Supreme Court was deliberating on Bondi v. VanDerStok, 604 U.S. 458 (2025), which issued in March 2025.

The VanDerStok ruling said that at least some weapons parts kits and unfinished frames or receivers are “firearms” within the meaning of the GCA. The Court noted, however, that at some point a product may be “so incomplete or cumbersome to assemble” as to no longer constitute a weapon, or “so far from a finished frame or receiver that they cannot fairly be described using those terms,” thus bringing them outside the scope of the GCA.

The VanDerStok ruling is now the law of the land. The district court, however, did not have the benefit of that ruling in determining whether New York could bring this lawsuit. The Court of Appeals (Bianco, Menashi and Lee) returns this case to the district court for that purpose.