Liberal-Leaning Court Says Anti-Gun Group Had No Right To Sue Over Biden Admin Rule

A federal appeals court with a liberal reputation shot down a lawsuit by California and an anti-Second Amendment group Friday, saying they lacked standing in a case involving so-called “ghost guns.”

A three-judge panel from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that a lawsuit brought by Democratic California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Giffords Law Center against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) demanding tighter regulations on so-called “ghost guns” should be dismissed for a lack of standing. Circuit Judges Consuelo M. Callahan, Holly A. Thomas and Anthony D. Johnstone found that the evidence presented cut against the theory presented by Bonta and Giffords.

“In California’s largest county, the Final Rule caused a decrease in the prevalence of ghost guns—at least as measured by the share of ghost guns recovered out of total firearms recovered—which is the opposite trend that California’s theory requires,” Callahan, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in the opinion. Thomas and Johnstone are Biden appointees.

Giffords did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Biden administration enacted the regulations targeting the partially-completed frames and receivers in 2022, after a mass shooter killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, before Border Patrol agents stormed the classroom and fatally shot him. The partially-completed receivers were not considered “firearms” under the Gun Control Act of 1968, according to federal regulations.

California and Giffords initially sued in 202o, claiming that the first Trump administration was failing to regulate so-called “ghost gun kits” and “ghost guns.” They continued the lawsuit against the Biden administration, claiming that individual receivers not sold along with parts to assemble a rifle should also be regulated, with United States District Judge Edward M. Chen of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, an Obama appointee, agreeing in 2024 after he found the state and Giffords had standing to sue.

In another case, this one challenging the regulation, Chief United States District Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas, a George W. Bush appointee, issued a ruling Tuesday in favor of Defense Distributed, accepting arguments that the “frame or receiver rule” enacted by the ATF was unconstitutional on both Fifth Amendment and Second Amendment grounds. In the opinion, O’Connor said the rule deprived people seeking to manufacture their own firearms of due process and also unconstitutionally prohibited people from acquiring the means to manufacture firearms on their own.