With the start of September, Oregon has joined 14 other states who have banned ghost guns.
Ghost guns, or privately-made firearms that are untraceable, typically require a bit of DIY.
Usually, they're parts of guns made by a private individual, that are sold in kits to be assembled later.
The term ghost guns also covers firearms made with 3D printers.
What makes these guns concerning to proponents of regulation is that there's no background check involved in obtaining one and neither the assembled gun or gun parts have serial numbers.
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In Oregon, all guns built after October 22, 1968 must have a serial number. If caught with a ghost gun, offenders face a $1,000 fine. Repeat offenders face jail time.
In Oregon, gun-rights groups have argued that bans violate Second Amendment rights and that homemade firearms are a tradition dating back to the colonial days. They add it would be impractical to add serial numbers to self-made weapons.
The NRA Institute for Legislative Action writing last year, "This new law only harasses hobbyists and will not improve public safety."
"These do it yourself guns, build at home gun kits, really exploded in the last several years," said Eric Tirshwell, Chief Litigation Counsel and Executive Director of Everytown For Gun Safety Law.
The ATF says that in 2021 police seized over 19,000 ghost guns, up from over 1,600 four years earlier.
It's this spike that prompted the Biden Administration to pass a rule, through the ATF, banning these kinds of firearms without serial numbers. Now the Supreme Court will decide the federal rule's legitimacy.
"The question in front of the Supreme Court is whether that rule is a valid exercise of the ATF's authority or whether they exceeded their authority," said Tirschwell.
If the Supreme Court overturns the federal ghost gun regulation the existing laws in states like Oregon will still stand, and Congress would have to weigh in on a federal rule.
"There would be, I think a big push for Congress to change the law and make clear if the Supreme Court didn't think it was clear that they intended for gun building kits to be regulated just like an actual gun," Tirschwell said.
The Supreme Court will hear the ghost guns case October 8.
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