When the Supreme Court invalidated a gun control law in New York last year based on Second Amendment principles, the decision followed predictable lines: the six Republican-appointed justices in the majority and the three Democratic-appointed dissenting justices. However, in a recent case, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Barrett took a more cautious stance compared to the other four conservative justices, revealing a new division.
During the government’s emergency plea, Ms. Prelogar, the petitioner, sought to draw an analogy to support her argument. She wrote, “Anyone who speaks English would understand that a tax on the sale of ‘bookshelves’ applies to Ikea when it sells boxes containing parts, tools, and instructions for assembling bookshelves.”
In response, a Supreme Court brief from one group of challengers criticized this comparison, stating, “A better analogy would be a ‘taco kit’ sold by a grocery store as a bundle, including taco shells, seasoning packets, salsa, and other toppings, along with a slab of raw beef. No one would consider the taco kit a taco. To turn it into one, it would require cutting or grinding and cooking the meat — until then, it would be nonsensical to treat it as food or the equivalent of a taco.”
Moreover, the two sides disagreed on whether there has been an increase in homemade firearms. Ms. Prelogar argued that there had been a surge in crimes involving “ghost guns,” referring to a sworn statement from an official at the A.T.F. According to the statement, authorities retrieved over 19,000 firearms without serial numbers in 2021, compared to approximately 1,600 in 2017. The official also reported that around 23,452 suspected privately made firearms were recovered at crime scenes and submitted for tracing in the 11 months leading up to July. Ms. Prelogar further highlighted that these weapons are attractive to criminals and minors, emphasizing their ease of assembly using kits and parts available for purchase online, requiring only basic tools and rudimentary skills.
In conclusion, the Supreme Court case highlighted a division among the justices, with Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Barrett adopting a more cautious approach. The use of analogies and statistics regarding homemade firearms added depth to the arguments presented by both sides.
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