California fails to convince Ninth Circuit on ghost gun issue

A Ninth Circuit panel ruled Friday that California and the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence lack standing to challenge an ATF rule on ghost guns, ordering the case dismissed rather than deciding the underlying merits.

The dispute centered on ‘Example 4’ of ATF's 2022 definition update, which exempts certain early-stage, unfinished firearm receivers from Gun Control Act regulation. Plaintiffs argued that exemption should be narrower and left loopholes; a lower court agreed and sent the rule back to ATF, but the Ninth Circuit reversed on standing grounds.

Judge Consuelo Callahan wrote that California's evidence of increased spending mostly predated the 2022 rule, and that both plaintiffs' claimed injuries were too indirect and speculative to trace to Example 4 specifically. California's Justice Department said it is reviewing the ruling, noting state law still bars sale of unserialized receiver blanks.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.