The Supreme Court's very brief, very revealing new decision about guns, explained [View all]

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https://www.vox.com/scotus/2023/10/17/23919988/supreme-court-ghost-guns-garland-blackhawk-manufacturing

The Supreme Court’s very brief, very revealing new decision about guns, explained

Why the Supreme Court just smacked down one of the judiciary’s worst GOP partisans.

By Ian Millhiser Oct 17, 2023, 12:55pm EDT

Late Monday afternoon, the Supreme Court handed down a very brief order establishing that sellers of “ghost guns,” weapons that are sold dismantled in ready-to-assemble kits, must comply with the same gun safety laws and anti-crime laws as any other gun seller.

At this point you may be experiencing déjà vu, because in August the Supreme Court also handed down a brief order establishing ghost gun sellers must comply with these laws. The more recent case, known as Garland v. Blackhawk Manufacturing Group, arrived on the Court’s docket after federal district court Judge Reed O’Connor, a former Republican Capitol Hill staffer known for handing down dubiously reasoned opinions that benefit Republican causes, effectively tried to neutralize the Supreme Court’s August 2023 decision.

Notably, while the Court’s August order was a 5-4 decision, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining the Court’s three Democratic appointees, no justice publicly dissented from the order handed down on Monday — which suggests that even the four justices who dissented in August may have viewed O’Connor’s most recent ruling in favor of ghost gun sellers as an act of defiance that needed to be quashed.

The decision is revealing not just because it potentially indicates that the Court ran out of patience for O’Connor’s antics. Monday’s decision also suggests that there is a solid majority on the Court against ghost guns, something that was at least somewhat in doubt after the Court’s August decision.

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