The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a request by President Joe Biden’s administration to reinstate — at least for the time being — a federal regulation aimed at restricting privately-made firearms known as “ghost guns” that are difficult for law enforcement to track. according to Reuters.

The justices stayed a ruling by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, that blocked the 2022 rule nationwide until the administration appeals.

O’Connor found that the administration exceeded its authority under a 1968 federal law called the Gun Control Act in implementing the rule on ghost firearms, firearms that are privately assembled and do not have the usual serial numbers required by federal government.

A rule issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in 2022 to combat the rapid proliferation of handguns prohibits kits without serial numbers that can be purchased online or at a store without experience. audit. Kits can be quickly assembled into a working firearm.

The rule clarifies that a firearm qualifies as a “firearm” under the federal Gun Control Act, expanding the definition of a firearm to include parts and assemblies that can be easily converted into a weapon.

It mandated serial numbers and required licenses from manufacturers and sellers. Sellers must also vet buyers before selling.

Conservative Justice Samuel Alito, who hears the emergency cases in a group of states including Texas, temporarily blocked O’Connor’s decision on July 28 to give the justices time to decide how to proceed.

On July 27, the administration asked the justices to stay O’Connor’s ruling, which struck down the Justice Department’s ban on the sale of ghost gun kits, and filed an appeal with the New Orleans-based U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The administration said that if O’Connor’s decision were to stand, it would lead to an “irreversible flow of large numbers of undetected phantom weapons into our national communities.”