Are Ghost Guns Really Guns? Here’s What SCOTUS Police Think.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear oral arguments in Garland v. VanDerStok, a case that promises to settle the question of whether weapon parts kits for “ghost guns” require the same regulation as complete firearms bought and sold at gun stores. The case hinges on a key question: Is a bundle of parts that can be readily assembled into a working firearm the same thing as a gun?

As nine of the most powerful legal minds prepared to consider whether ghost guns qualify as firearms, Chris Harris thought of someone who may already have an answer: the Supreme Court’s police force.

“I noticed on the link that guns are prohibited on tours (makes sense),” the vice president of communications for Giffords Law Center, a major gun law reform group, wrote in an email to Supreme Court Police. “Quick question ― Does that prohibition on firearms apply to unfinished frames similar to the one linked below even though it is incapable of firing in its current state?” He then included a link to an incomplete Glock-style pistol frame that might be used to assemble a ghost gun.