The Supreme Court Upholds Life-Saving Ghost Gun Rule in Bondi v. VanDerStok. Here’s What You Need to Know.

What was the question in VanDerStok?

The key question in Bondi v. VanDerStok¹The lead Petitioner in the Supreme Court case is the Attorney General of the United States. The case was initially styled as Garland v. VanDerStok (and was previously VanDerStok v. Garland in lower courts), but the case is now Bondi v. VanDerStok in light of the confirmation of a new Attorney General. is this: Can firearms parts kits be classified as firearms under the Gun Control Act of 1968?

What did the Supreme Court decide?

On March 26, 2025, the Supreme Court upheld, in a 7 to 2 decision, the 2022 ATF rule clarifying that certain products can be classified as firearms as defined in the Gun Control Act of 1968. The Supreme Court’s decision permits ATF to regulate “some weapon parts kits and unfinished receivers,” including ghost gun kits. 

Remind me: What are ghost guns?

A ghost gun is a do-it-yourself, homemade gun made from easy-to-get building blocks. These kits were previously available for purchase with no background check and no questions asked. 

A ghost gun has three key, related characteristics:

1. It is unserialized; 
2. It is untraceable; and
3. Its building blocks are acquired without a background check. 

For years, ghost guns represented the fastest-growing gun safety threat to our communities. Felons, minors, and others who are prohibited from buying firearms were able to acquire ghost guns by simply ordering them over the internet and having them delivered to their doorsteps. They could do so without a background check or verifying their identity, circumventing existing laws.

Online sellers like Polymer80, which for years was the largest in this market, became one-stop shops for ghost gun kits, parts, and how-to guides. Ghost gun kits like Polymer80’s were often sold with jigs, instructions, and even drill bits so they could be finished quickly. The VanDerStok majority opinion, written by Neil Gorsuch, named Polymer80’s “Buy Build Shoot” kit as an example of why ghost gun kits “clearly qualify” as firearms under the Gun Control Act of 1968.

“An author might invite your opinion on her latest novel, even if she sends you an unfinished manuscript. A friend might speak of the table he just bought at IKEA, even though hours of assembly remain ahead of him. … In the same way and for the same reason, an ordinary speaker might well describe the ‘Buy Build Shoot’ kit as a ‘weapon.’ Yes, perhaps a half hour of work is required before anyone can fire a shot. But even as sold, the kit comes with all necessary components, and its intended function as [an] instrument of combat is obvious. Really, the kit’s name says it all: ‘Buy Build Shoot.’”

—Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority in the Bondi v. VanDerStok Supreme Court decision.

Why did the VanDerStok case go to the Supreme Court?

In 2022, the ATF sought to address the threat ghost guns pose to our communities and to law enforcement. It issued a rule clarifying that certain products can be classified as firearms as defined in the Gun Control Act of 1968. This new rule clarified that weapons parts that may be readily converted into an operational firearm or a functional frame or receiver of a firearm—including ghost gun kits—fall within that definition.

The ATF ghost gun rule had—and has—broad support from state and federal law enforcement, who have all affirmed it is crucial to keeping our communities safe. However, the ghost gun industry challenged the rule in court, where a federal district court—and later the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals—overturned the rule.

On October 8, 2024, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in VanDerStok.

Why does VanDerStok matter?

The VanDerStok decision upheld the ATF’s life-saving rule, allowing federal authorities to continue cracking down on untraceable ghost guns.  

Data shows the ATF rule has led to a reduction in the number of ghost guns recovered at crime scenes nationwide. The ATF estimates that between 2016 and 2022, law enforcement personnel recovered approximately 71,024 unserialized crime guns. But early data indicates a drop in ghost gun recoveries at crime scenes since the ATF’s rule went into effect. New LAPD 2024 Crime Statistics further confirm this trend: the recovery rate of ghost guns at crime scenes across Los Angeles has dropped by 50% since 2022, further proving that the Supreme Court ruling in VanDerStok was absolutely essential to public safety.