Federal Court Holds Delaware “Ghost Gun” Possession and Home-Manufacturing Bans Unconstitutional

Firearms Policy Coalition ^ | 9/10/26

[CFW]

WILMINGTON, DE (September 10, 2026) — Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced today a major Second Amendment victory in its Rigby v. Jennings lawsuit, with the United States District Court for the District of Delaware holding that the State’s bans on possessing and self-manufacturing so-called “ghost guns” are unconstitutional.

The decision comes nearly four years after FPC first secured a preliminary injunction against Delaware’s possession and home-manufacturing bans. In its new merits decision, the Court granted FPC’s motion for summary judgment in part and rejected Delaware’s effort to defend its prohibitions under the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment framework.

“Delaware tried to turn peaceable people into criminals for possessing firearms they lawfully made and owned. Today the court correctly held that the Second Amendment protects the People’s right to acquire arms by building them at home. Nearly four years after we secured a preliminary injunction against these bans, we now have a merits ruling holding them unconstitutional. This is a key victory on the road to securing nationwide protection for the right to self-manufacture arms,” said FPC President Brandon Combs.

In its opinion, the Rigby Court firmly rejected Delaware’s argument that unserialized firearms and unfinished frames and receivers fall outside the Second Amendment. As the Court explained, an unserialized firearm “is an Arm under the Second Amendment” and “all firearms constitute ‘arms,’ whether serialized or not.” The Court likewise held that firearm frames and receivers are protected “Arms,” explaining that “the constitutional understanding of ‘Arms’ does not turn on serialization.”

---

TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: banglist; delaware; firearms; ghostguns

[CFW]

The Court observed that Delaware’s own evidence did not show that unserialized or self-manufactured firearms function differently from serialized firearms or pose dangers that other firearms do not. Instead, the record showed that peaceable citizens use self-manufactured and unserialized firearms for lawful purposes including self-defense.

[CFW]

Also today, a Maryland federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction against Montgomery County’s ban on guns near places of worship, saying it likely violates the First and Second amendments. The injunction only applies to the plaintiffs.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mdd.609948/gov.uscourts.mdd.609948.35.0.pdf

[muir_redwoods]

Since at least the days of Socrates, logic has dictated that it is impossible to prove a negative. Therefore I challenge the Absolutely Terrible Fools to prove a specific gun has no serial number. Just because the idiots haven’t found it yet or claim they cannot see it doesn’t mean it’s not there. This amounts to reasonable doubt, doesn’t it?

For the kids in the back, I jest.