Nevada Supreme Court Upholds Ghost Gun Ban

The Second Amendment may have just taken a hit.

The Nevada Supreme Court has upheld a new state law banning ghost guns.

The law had been shelved by the lower courts, which called the ban unconstitutionally vague.

The Reversal

The new law, which was passed in 2021, banned firearm manufacturers from selling ghost gun parts.

These are homemade weapons that are virtually impossible to trace because they are assembled from individual parts or a 3D printer.

The original lawsuit fighting the law was filed by Polymer80, a Northern Nevada-based firearm manufacturer widely considered as the most prominent maker of parts for ghost guns.

Polymer80 won the lawsuit, with District Court Judge John Schlegelmilch ruling, “the most any court can glean from the definition is that it is something less than a firearm and more than a block of raw material.”

Nevada’s Supreme Court reversed that decision, ruling, “It cannot be said that vagueness pervades their texts.

“Here, one cannot dance up to the line of criminality and then plead ignorance of terms commonly known in the regulated subject.”

Seizure of privately made weapons has significantly increased, more than doubling from 2019 to 2021.

Additionally, gun control advocacy groups believe that Polymer80 and other manufacturers more or less created a loophole that would allow those legally unable to purchase a weapon an outlet to secure firearms because they did not have to undergo a background check to obtain the parts, then put the weapon together on their own.

And according to the ATF, the vast majority of those weapons have parts that were produced by Polymer80.

Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui (D-Las Vegas), who sponsored the original legislation, celebrated the win, stating that she was "thankful for the Court’s unanimous ruling to uphold common sense gun safety legislation that will prevent criminals from further endangering our communities."

My guess is the case will be sent to the Supreme Court for consideration, but I would be surprised if the court accepts the case, as it has skirted around 2A suits in recent years.