On March 28, 2025, according to the Library of Resources, in a recent important decision, the United States Supreme Court declared that the government had the right to treat firearms, including ghost weapons made through 3D printers, as ordinary weapons. This means that the kits and parts used to make firearms that cannot be traced, even if they are made at home, must follow the same legal arrangements as firearms purchased by stores. This includes having a serial number and the buyer must undergo an audit verification.
This decision came fromBondi c. VanderstokIn the case, the court supported a rule formulated by the Biden administration to compensate for the so-called “escape of ghost firearms”. This legal gap has once allowed people to buy parts or kits of firearms (generally online) and to collect updated weapons available without having to carry out history checks or to assign them standard numbers.
What is a ghost pistol?
Ghost canons are homemade cannons that are assembled through kits or made with 3D printers. Since firearms have no standard numbers, the police cannot follow them. And, until recently, you did not need an audience verification to have a ghost pistol. This has become a problem, especially for the police, because it is easier for those who are not allowed to have firearms, including criminals, to obtain weapons without being followed.
However, on March 26, 2025, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the government had the right to regulate ghost weapons. “Yes, alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives administration (ATF) can treat ghost fire kits and unfinished documents as real weapons,” said the court.
This decision also covers many 3D printed parts which can be easily transformed into available pistols. Although some states, including California, New York, Hawaii and Delaware, have already made regulations, the decision means that these requirements will be implemented at the federal level. From now on, all of these parts must have a serial number, the buyer must undergo an audit check and the seller must also obtain a relevant license.
Why is it so important for 3D printing?
3D printers allow people to make it easier for coins to fire firearms. Although these documents are generally unregulated in the past, according to new rules maintained by the court, even if someone prints cannon pieces at home, they will be considered as firearms if they can be assembled in available firearms. This makes body, receiver, receiver, pistol handle, trigger assembly and other legally regulated components such as traditional canons.
The decision now affects amateurs who print firearms, companies that sell documents or gun printing kits and law enforcement organizations trying to follow these weapons that cannot be traced.
As 3D printed cannon parts become more accessible, incidents involving these parts also increase in police reports. In 2024 alone, at least 64 people were arrested worldwide for 3D printed firearms. This has been the total number of arrests since 2013 to 342, indicating that the number of similar incidents has increased regularly over the past decade.
Among them, the United States and Canada have the greatest number of arrests, and the number of arrests in these two countries has increased rapidly. In the United States, by mid-2024, the number of arrests reached 126. In Canada, the number of arrests increased from 82 in 2023 to 107 in mid-2024.
Legal process of the Ghost Gun case
To understand why the parts of a ghost cannon, including the 3D printed parts, end up being regulated as traditional weapons, we must review the critical moments that led to this decision:
– In 2018, after several mass shots, President Trump asked the Ministry of Justice to examine the law on firearms, but has not changed the relevant provisions of ghost firearms.
– In 2021, President Biden promised to “fight the ghost pistol” after taking office.
– In 2022, the ATF under administration Biden published new regulations requiring that “ghost fire kits equivalent to firearms”, sellers must add serial numbers and buyers must undergo checks of history.
– From 2023 to 2024, the provision is faced with legal challenges, and some lower courts believe that the ATF approach is too strict.
– In August 2023, the Supreme Court temporarily intervened to allow the provisions of the ATF to continue to take effect while judicial disputes continue.
– On March 26, 2025, the Supreme Court ruled in ** Bondi c. Vanderstok ** that the provisions of the ATF were not excessive and that the provisions were legal.
Bondi c. Vanderstok Overview of the case
Bondi c. Vanderstok is a matter that brought the question of the Supreme Court. Chief plaintiff Jennifer Vanderstok, owner of a Texas firearms, joined other people and firearms groups to challenge Federal ATF rules.
In the initial affair deposited before the Northern District Court of Texas in 2022, the applicant argued that ATF regulations were too strict to treat the firearm kit and unfinished parts, including the frames and receptors printed in 3D, as a rifles already manufactured. However, after calls and new legal proceedings, the case finally concluded the Supreme Court, and the judges must decide whether the ATF has the right to issue the rule.
Seven judges of the Supreme Court out of nine agreed that the provision of ATF ghost firearms is legally authorized. Judge Neil Gorsage wrote for the majority, saying: “Someone could invite you to give an opinion on his latest novel, even if she sends you an unfinished manuscript. Likewise, a regular buyer could call the weapons” buy and build a “” “shooting kit. “”
This decision means that 3D printed cannon parts can now be as legally managed as real pistols. For anyone who manufactures or buy a ghost pistol, the manufacturing and purchase process now includes checks of history and standard numbers, as is a store buys a firearm.
Note: The article comes from 3Dprint and is compiled by the resource library.
