Staff Reports
The Supreme Court has muddied the waters yet again, and this time, it’s over the Biden administration’s harebrained scheme to clamp down on unserialized homemade firearms, which the media has dubbed “ghost guns.” As if there was any mystery here, the mainstream press is treating this debate as if it were the Final Judgment, with the expectation that the highest court in the land will magically endorse sweeping restrictions on yet another aspect of American life.
The push from the left is predictable: they claim that these ghost guns are the new choice of criminals everywhere, waved around like a bloody shirt to justify their impending regulations. Yet, upon closer scrutiny, it’s clear that the numbers being tossed around are about as credible as summer blockbusters. A favorite talking point suggests that the appearance of ghost guns in crimes has skyrocketed by a staggering 1,000 percent. It sounds terrifying, but the truth is buried deeper than a masked villain in a superhero movie.
HAPPENING NOW: Supreme Court weighs challenge to Biden plan to crack down on untraceable 'ghost gun' kits. pic.twitter.com/HOCF8k7OZv
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 8, 2024
When law enforcement started to unearth these guns back in 2017, they recovered about 1,000 to 2,000 a year. Fast forward to 2021, and that number ballooned to around 19,000, with 25,000 reported recovered by 2022. While those numbers might make a fun statistic for an anti-gun lecture, they need context. There were roughly 14,000 homicides in 2022 alone—this means that even if every single ghost gun were involved in a homicide (which it certainly wasn’t), these unserialized pieces wouldn’t even scrape the surface of the total violent crime reality in America. Hell, the FBI reported just under 1.2 million violent crimes in 2019. So, even with an ocean of ghost guns circulating, they account for just a tiny fraction of overall violent incidents. It’s worth noting that being at a crime scene doesn’t mean that an unserialized gun was used in a crime—just ask any cop who might stumble upon a known felon with an unspent ghost gun thanks to a hasty search.
Part of the problem lies in how all these restrictions have emerged in the first place. The Second Amendment Foundation has pointed out that Congress laid down the definition of a firearm in the Gun Control Act of 1968. However, the ATF decided to take it upon themselves to change the game at the direction of the Biden administration. This amendment ratified a classic case of bureaucratic overreach, something the agency was recently slapped down for when it tried to redefine “machine guns” to ban bump stocks. But media fervor over ghost guns conveniently glosses over that important little detail.
Even if one were feeling generous and considered this an issue of gun control, the recent Bruen decision should make enthusiasts for bans think twice. The Supreme Court made it clear that for a law to be constitutional, it requires historical backing. Well, folks have been making their firearms since time immemorial, and the historical record offers no laws against it back in the day. So, where exactly does the government think it gets off trying to restrict a fundamental right?
As this case plays out in the coming weeks, one thing is certain—it will be an avalanche of misrepresentation and sensationalism from the liberal side, all masquerading as informed commentary. The difference between what is real and what is spun will be monumental. Still, one theme will certainly emerge: the government overreaching in ways that make even Paul Bunyan raise an eyebrow. American rights are on trial here, and the stakes have never been higher.
