Justice Alito Wrecks ATF’s ‘Ghost Gun’ Argument: Are Eggs and Peppers an Omelet?

Justice Samuel Alito wrecked the government’s defense of the ATF “ghost gun” rule during oral arguments Tuesday by asking if eggs and peppers are an omelet.

Breitbart News reported that the case is Garland v. VanDerStok, and it is focused on ATF Final Rule 2021-05F. A central part of this rule was redefining what the word “firearm” means so as to designate “partially completed pistol frames” and other gun parts as “firearms.”

Justice Alito asked about “components” and the way they are defined in relation to a “weapon.”

He asked, “Here is a blank pad and a pen. Is this a grocery list?” The government answered no, citing numerous uses for the pad and pen.

He followed up by asking, “If I put on a counter some eggs, some chopped up ham, some chopped up pepper and onions, is that a western omelet?” The government again answered no, again citing “well-known other uses” for the eggs, ham, etc.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett followed Alito by asking if the omelet analogy would change if the ingredients were purchased from Hello Fresh. The government answered in the affirmative.

Justice Neil Gorsuch followed up, asking about the scope of “ordinary meaning,” as applied to “every noun” used by Congress or the U.S. Code — if it can be used to see Alito’s pad and pencil as a grocery list. Therefore, Gorsuch suggests there “has got to be a line that makes [the government’s] theory the case.”

Gorsuch noted that as recently as 2021 “the government represented that an unfinished frame or receiver does not meet the statutory definition of a firearm.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly: awrhawkins@breitbart.com.