AMA, physician groups file amicus brief with Supreme Court in ‘ghost gun’ case
A group of eight physician organizations, including the American Medical Association (AMA), submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, urging the justices to uphold a lower court ruling in Garland v. VanDerStok that sided with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), permitting the agency to regulate the sale of firearm kits under provisions of the Gun Control Act.
These part kits are readily available online and can be used by a gunsmith to construct a functional firearm—such as an AR-15—when combined with a receiver. Commonly, these are referred to as “ghost guns,” because the parts are largely unregulated.
The existing law is complicated. A Virginia-based gun broker who spoke to HealthExec said, while a receiver typically includes a manufacturer serial number, there are ways a talented smithy with the right tools could legally make one at home, resulting in a gun that is completely off the books.
The challenged ATF regulations would change the legal definition of a firearm, firearm frame and receiver to force many of these kit-made guns to be built from serialized receivers and consequently reported as a firearm sale to the federal government.
The undersigned of the brief urged the Supreme Court to uphold these ATF regulations, arguing the agency’s policy was a step toward keeping ghost guns out of the hands of criminals.
“[The ATF] rule is designed to keep unregistered firearms commonly referred to as ‘ghost guns’ out of the hands of dangerous criminals requiring commercial manufacturers of covered firearm parts kits, frames, and receivers to obtain federal firearm licenses, mark their products with serial numbers, conduct background checks, and keep transfer records," the AMA, et al., wrote in the brief.
"The Fifth Circuit’s ruling would allow circumvention of the Act’s serialization, record-keeping, and background check requirements,” they added.
A public health crisis
In a separate statement, the AMA said the brief is part of a larger push from public health advocates to keep unregistered firearms out of the hands of “dangerous criminals.” The AMA declared gun violence to be a "public health crisis" in 2016 and has not wavered from that stance. They noted firearms are “one of the leading causes of intentional and unintentional injuries and deaths in the U.S.”
The AMA added that it supports “common sense measures” to reduce the violence, including enforcing “laws that keep firearms from those legally prohibited from having firearms due to criminal history or other factors.”
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, 48,204 people died of firearms-related injuries in 2022 alone.
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