Justice Neil Gorsuch undercut government claims that the ATF’s “ghost gun” rule is not a new interpretation of existing statutes during Tuesday’s oral arguments in Garland v. VanDerStok by noting that as recently as 2021 the government held a different view.
Breitbart News reported that the case is Garland v. VanDerStok, and it is focused on ATF Final Rule 2021-05F. A central part of this rule was redefining what the word “firearm” means so as to designate “partially completed pistol frames” and other gun parts as “firearms.”
During oral arguments, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar claimed the ATF’s classification of incomplete frames as “firearms” is in keeping with the same position the government has held for decades.
Prelogar said:
We think the context and purpose of the statute strongly support understanding the term in this way. And the reason for that is because, throughout the federal firearms laws, whenever Congress has itself expressly provided a definition, it has included not only the fully complete and functional item but things that are the item and can readily be made to function that way.
In another part of her exchange with Gorsuch, Prelogar addressed the classification of incomplete frames as “firearms” by saying, “So I want to be very clear that we think that this is a matter of ordinary meaning, that you don’t need it to be a hundred percent complete.”
Gorsuch responded to these things by asking for her to point to “something textual,” and then added, “…As recently as 2021, in a brief filed in the Southern District of New York, the government represented that an unfinished frame or receiver does not meet the statutory definition of ‘firearm.'”
Similar exchanges occurred between Prelogar and Justice Samuel Alito. Alito asked, “Here is a blank pad and a pen. Is this a grocery list?”
Alito followed up by asking, “If I put on a counter some eggs, some chopped up ham, some chopped up pepper and onions, is that a western omelet?”
Prelogar responded in the negative to both of Alito’s questions, then contended that her answer would be different if the omelet ingredients were sold in a kit.
The case is Garland v. VanDerStok, No 23-852 in the Supreme Court of the United States.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly:
