The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in favor of ‘ghost guns’

Minnesota residents saw a huge win on the topic of Second Amendment rights this week, following a ruling by the state supreme court about serial numbers on firearms.

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled on Aug. 6 that state law does not preclude residents from carrying a “ghost gun,” which doesn’t have a serial number, as Minnesota’s KSTP reported.

The case came before the court due to a legal issue that began in 2022 with a state patrol trooper’s response to a car crash when the firearm was found.

The Case

During the course of the state trooper’s response to an accident that included a rollover crash in Fridley, Minnesota, the driver told the officer about the firearm.

He also told the law enforcement official that he didn’t have a permit to carry that gun. The trooper found it and discovered it was a so-called “ghost gun” without a serial number.

Thanks to that discovery, the man was charged with felony possession of a firearm without a serial number, as well as carrying a handgun without a permit.

In response to those charges, the man’s defense team moved to dismiss the serial number charge, saying there was no probable cause.

The Law

The firearm owner had to defend himself from a Minnesota statute that was put on the books more than 30 years ago in 1994, which made it criminal to receive or possess a firearm that is “not identified by a serial number.”

The state’s high court, however, decided that the 1994 statute is but a refrence to the federal law, and that the state of Minnesota doesn’t have an independent system to require the serial numbers.

Judge Paul Thissen penned the majority opinion, in which he asserted that the state statute doesn’t clearly define enough about what a serial number references.

According to the Thissen-authored opinion, the possession of a firearm that is not identified by a serial number is illegal “only if federal law requires that the firearm have a serial number.”

Ghost Guns

While the court ruled in favor of the gun owner, this doesn’t mean the justices are in favor of guns without serial numbers.

In fact, Thissen wrote that the guns “pose real dangers to public safety and the proper regulation of such weapons is an important policy issue. Many states have regulated ghost guns through the legislative process, yet Minnesota has not acted.”

“Ghost guns” are generally firearms that are assembled from parts put together by those other than the manufacturer, and since they don’t have serial numbers, are much more difficult for law enforcement to track.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives said that between the years 2016 and 2021, they suspect that over 45,000 suspected ghost guns were recovered from crime scenes nationwide.