Baltimore says that waiting for the Supreme Court to make a ruling will only worsen the city’s gun crisis, but remains confident that it will be able to hold Hanover Armory liable for the negligent or unlawful sale of “ghost gun” kits.
A Baltimore judge has paused the city’s lawsuit against a Maryland gun store accused of selling thousands of untraceable “ghost guns” within miles of the city’s limits.
According to The Baltimore Sun, the city’s lawsuit against Ann Arundel County-based Hanover Armory LLC was scheduled to proceed to trial in December. However, Maryland Circuit Court Judge Shannon E. Avery froze the case last week, pending the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in VanDerStok v. Garland.
The ruling in VanDerStok v. Garland is expected to clarify the legal definition of what constitutes a “firearm.”
In its lawsuit, Baltimore has characterized “ghost guns” as a type of prohibited and largely untraceable firearm contributing to the city’s longstanding problems with crime and violence.
Since “ghost guns” are made with 3D-printed components, they can be produced by almost anyone with a 3D printer and the right schematics. In the absence of any uniform regulation, people who are generally prohibited from purchasing firearms—including convicted felons, drug addicts, and persons subject to restraining orders—can still obtain blueprints to produce their own “ghost gun” components at home.
“In making these sales, Hanover Armory does not seek to determine whether a purchaser is a domestic abuser, felon, juvenile, or any other kind of prohibited purchaser,” attorneys wrote in the lawsuit. “By manufacturing and selling ghost guns, these Defendants have predictably, if not intentionally, caused violence, destruction, and death in Baltimore City.”
The lawsuit, notes The Maryland Daily Record, was filed by the Baltimore City Law Department alongside Brady United Against Gun Violence and the Sanford Heisler Sharp law firm.
“As long as people who are not legally allowed to possess a firearm—young people, known violent offenders and gun traffickers—have the opportunity to build these tools of death and destruction and violence, we will not be able to build the safer future for Baltimore that we all want,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said in 2022. “These weapons will continue to be used in crimes that tear loved ones away from their families and traumatize our communities.”
Baltimore attorneys believe that Hanover Armory sells, or sold, about 85% of all “ghost gun” kits sold in Maryland between 2016 and June 2022.
In 2022, the Biden administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives imposed new restrictions on ghost guns, categorizing build-at-home kits as firearms under the federal Gun Control Act of 1968.
The effect of these new rules was substantial: dealers selling “ghost gun” kits would have to complete background checks on prospective buyers, whereas manufacturers would have to etch serial numbers in pre-assembled parts and devices.
However, the gun industry has since challenged this recategorization of “ghost guns” as firearms. It has so far succeeded in obtaining favorable rulings in southern courts, which have since been appealed up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Baltimore says that waiting for the justices to make a ruling will only worsen the city’s gun crisis, but remains confident that it will be able to hold Hanover Armory liable for the negligent or unlawful sale of “ghost gun” kits.
“The City looks forward to having its day in court and remains confident that it will hold Hanover Armory accountable for its contribution to the ghost gun crisis in Baltimore City,” spokesperson Bryan Doherty said in a statement.
Sources
Baltimore City’s lawsuit against ‘ghost gun’ retailer will go to trial
Baltimore’s ghost gun lawsuit paused by judge citing Supreme Court case
Gun shops that sold weapons trafficked into Washington, D.C., sued by nation’s capital and Maryland
Join the conversation!