Brunswick Beacon, 12.26.24
In the 2008 Heller decision governing the right to bear arms, conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote, “the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.” He said the Constitution means what the Founders intended it to mean when they wrote it, and the weapons protected were those “in common use at the time.” Scalia said “modern developments” may have rendered the Founders’ weapons obsolete. But, he added, that fact “cannot change our interpretation of the right.” According to Scalia, you have the right to a musket, not an M-16.
Scalia’s words gained new relevance when a vigilante murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson using a gun made with a 3D printer. The gunman called the process “fairly trivial,” requiring only some “basic CAD” (computer-aided design) and “patience.” Trivial today, but impossible for the Founders, and therefore subject to regulation under Heller.
The Glock-style pistol was assembled by combining commercially produced barrels, slides and magazines with a homemade frame, called a “lower receiver,” which is the only regulated part. Printing that part at home allowed the killer to build a “ghost gun” with no serial number and no need to ask for a license, undergo a background check, or cool off during a waiting period. The design is called the FMDA, short for “Free Men Don’t Ask.”
North Carolina, which does not require you to register, or obtain a serial number for home-made guns, experienced a spike of over 1,700 percent in ghost gun recoveries from 2020 to 2023.
Biden tried to eliminate ghost guns by issuing a federal rule requiring all gun parts to include serial numbers. The rule was enjoined by a conservative Texas judge and appealed to the US Supreme Court, whose decision is pending.
In his first term, Trump tried to expand access to 3D-printed ghost guns. Unless he changes his mind, expect more untraceable ghost guns without serial numbers, and more vigilante murders.
Linda McConnell Baker
Leland
Comments