Minnesota Supreme Court Rules in Favor of ‘Ghost Guns’

Minnesota residents saw a huge win for the Second Amendment this week, following a ruling by the state Supreme Court that favored citizens’ gun rights.

The case was related to serial numbers on firearms.

On Wednesday, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that state law does not preclude residents from carrying a “ghost gun.”

A ghost gun 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.

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.

The lawyers argued that there was no probable cause.

The firearm owner had to defend himself from a Minnesota statute that was put on the books more than 30 years ago in 1994.

The statute 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 reference 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.

Thissen 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.”

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.

Since they don’t have serial numbers, they 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.

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