United States Court of Fictional Appeals, In re the 2022 Frame or Receiver Rule.
Question presented
Whether a partially finished frame or receiver is a firearm before it has fired anything.
Facts
The 2022 rule expanded the definition of “frame or receiver” to include partially finished frames and receivers, often called ghost gun parts.[1] The rule requires manufacturers of such kits and parts to serialize, license, and background-check them like every other commercially made firearm.[2]
Analysis
We begin with the text. An arm must be able to fire; a partially finished receiver cannot. The moment it becomes able to fire, it is no longer a part, so the rule regulates a ghost. A ghost cannot be serialized, licensed, or arrested, so the rule is unconstitutional as applied to objects that do not yet exist.
Vagueness follows. “Partially finished” has no fixed finish line, and industry custom is exactly what the rule criminalizes. The only objective test is discharge: a frame is finished if it fires, and a frame that fires is no longer a frame. On remand, the ATF may fire each disputed frame exactly once.
That test proves too much. Every frame that fires is destroyed and therefore moot. Every frame that survives is unfired, unfinished, and outside the rule. The regulated class is empty, and a regulation of nothing is a rule about nothing. We need not order the agency to hunt for a ghost; the common law holds that ghosts cannot be impleaded.
Holding
The challenged definition is vacated as to all unfinished frames, because a frame is either finished and therefore not a part, or unfinished and therefore not a firearm. So ordered.