By Andrew Chung
(Reuters) - On her way home from school on a cloudy afternoon on April 8, 2022, 16-year-old Angellyh Yambo stepped out of Tony's Mini Market, her go-to corner bodega in New York City's Bronx borough, when shots rang out. A bullet passed through her upper back, piercing her lung and pulmonary artery, killing the girl, an innocent bystander during a shooting targeting other people.
Yambo, who like her mother Yanely Henriquez was a fan of crime dramas and true-crime documentaries, had dreamed of a career in forensics, helping to solve crimes. And yet the 9mm pistol that struck her down lacked the serial number present on most firearms, which can frustrate criminal investigations. It was, prosecutors said, a "ghost gun."
Ghost guns, which can be bought online and quickly assembled at home while being almost impossible to trace, are the subject of a major case being argued at the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, the second day of its new term. President Joe Biden's administration is defending its regulation, announced three days after Yambo's murder, cracking down on them. Lower courts ruled in favor of gun rights groups and parts manufacturers that sued to block the rule.
"My life has been completely changed by this weapon," Henriquez, 44, said of ghost guns. "This wound will never be healed because I don't have my best friend."
Henriquez hopes the Supreme Court upholds the regulation. But she is also seeking justice on her own, filing a wrongful death civil lawsuit against Nevada-based Polymer80, one of the companies challenging Biden's anti-ghost gun rule, seeking unspecified monetary damages. She has accused Polymer80 of negligently manufacturing and selling the weapon parts kit for the gun used to kill her daughter.
The Supreme Court case centers on whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives exceeded its authority in restricting ghost guns, as the plaintiffs claimed. The rule requires manufacturers of firearms kits and parts, such as partially complete frames or receivers, to mark their products with serial numbers, obtain licenses and conduct background checks on purchasers, as already required for other commercially made firearms.
The ATF's rule clarified that these kits and components are covered in the definition of "firearms" under a 1968 federal law called the Gun Control Act. The administration has called the rule critical for combating a U.S. surge in crimes involving ghost guns. These weapons are particularly attractive to people prohibited by law from buying firearms, including minors and individuals convicted of violent crimes, according to police and prosecutors.
The Supreme Court in 2023 reinstated the rule pending the administration's appeals.
Of more than 45,000 firearms recovered by authorities between 2016 and 2021 that lacked serial numbers, the ATF successfully traced less than 1% of them to individual buyers, the U.S. Justice Department said in a court filing.
'ENOUGH GUNS'
Many cities have urged the Supreme Court to uphold the regulation.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said that in her borough, "I've got enough guns already. I don't need people building them at home, too."
"I'm the DA," Clark added, "but I'm a resident of the Bronx my whole life. When my neighbors say they hear gunshots, guess who else hears them? I hear them, too - all the time. We shouldn't have to live like that. So it's personal, OK?"
Plaintiffs including parts manufacturers such as Polymer80 and Defense Distributed, various gun owners and the Firearms Policy Coalition and Second Amendment Foundation gun rights groups sued the ATF in federal court in Texas.
Judge Reed O'Connor invalidated the rule in 2023, finding the ATF overstepped its authority. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit later upheld O'Connor's decision, saying the agency impermissibly rewrote the firearms law while attempting to "take on the mantle of Congress to 'do something' with respect to gun control. But it is not the province of an executive agency to write laws for our nation."
The challengers have argued that any change to regulating these parts and kits must be made by Congress.
Cody Wilson, director of Defense Distributed, said that ghost guns are generally not a public safety threat. But even if they were, Wilson added, "That doesn't mean the solution is to empower an executive agency to redefine words from a congressional statute."
CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE
On the fateful afternoon outside Tony's Mini Market, Yambo was caught in the crossfire. Prosecutors said the shooter, 17-year-old Jeremiah Ryan, was in a dispute with two other men and fired at least six shots, striking Yambo as well as two other teenagers who survived.
Henriquez's lawsuit, filed in New York state court, accused Polymer80 of negligently making and marketing a product that constituted a public safety threat, resulting in Yambo's death. Noting that gun dealers cannot legally sell handguns to minors, the lawsuit said that Ryan or an acquaintance obtained the firearm kit from Polymer80 without a background check.
"We're talking about a very serious disregard and lack of concern for other human beings by companies who solely care about one thing, and that's profit," said Anthony Beneduce, the lawyer representing Henriquez. "I think if he (Ryan) didn't have access to that ... I believe that family, they would be with their daughter today."
Polymer80, facing mounting litigation, shut down in recent months, according to media reports. Lawyers representing Polymer80 did not respond to requests for comment.
Henriquez said she would be hurt if the Supreme Court rules against the regulation.
"I will do anything until I stop breathing to fight for my daughter, to fight for these guns to be banned," Henriquez added. "We already have lost enough kids."