New York Litigation Team Files Supreme Court Amicus Brief on Behalf of 20 U.S. Cities, 9 Counties, and Prosecutors Against Gun Violence in Second Amendment Case Involving “Ghost Guns” Regulation

NEW YORK (July 2, 2024)—Perkins Coie is pleased to announce that a New York-based litigation team has filed an amicus brief on behalf of 20 U.S. cities, nine U.S. counties, prosecutors for six counties, and Prosecutors Against Gun Violence before the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the federal government’s rule that aims to bring “ghost guns” under the same federal regulation as traditional firearms. 

The amicus filing before the Supreme Court comes after the Fifth Circuit last year affirmed a lower Texas court’s invalidating of the federal rule in the face of a legal challenge from a Houston-area gun parts maker. The litigation team included partners Lee Richards, Rachel Mechanic, Arthur Greenspan, and David Massey, as well as counsel Jacob Taber, and associate Samuel Gelb.  

The amici group included several major cities, including Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Newark, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle, among others.  

The brief argues that the federal rule, promulgated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), is necessary to stop the dangerous proliferation of ghost guns on the streets of the amici’s cities and to promote public safety. The ATF rule requires gun kit manufacturers to be licensed, perform background checks, and put serial numbers on gun parts. The full brief is available to read here.