St. Paul, MN (KROC-AM News) - Just days after the Minnesota Court of Appeals issued a ruling upholding a state law concerning so-called "ghost guns," the State Supreme Court has done the opposite.

The Court of Appeals ruling involved a man charged with illegally possessing a firearm without a serial number, even though the gun was privately built. The defendant in that case unsuccessfully argued that the state law violated the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because it criminalizes the possession of privately made firearms.

READ MORE: MN Appeals Court: Ghost Guns Not Protected Under 2nd Amendment

In a decision handed down today, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled the state law does not apply to privately built guns that are not required to have a serial number under federal law. The split 5-2 decision involved a man charged with felony possession of a firearm without a serial number after a privately made firearm, or "ghost gun," was found in his vehicle following a single-vehicle traffic crash in Fridley in 2022.

The district court judge who heard the case dismissed the charge after ruling the state law was unconstitutionally vague, but the Minnesota Court of Appeals later reversed that decision, stating the law prohibited the possession of any firearm not identified by a serial number.

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The Supreme Court, in its ruling, found otherwise. The five-justice majority decided that because Minnesota lacks a "general independent scheme requiring serial numbers to identify firearms," the state law relies on federal law in deciding which firearms fall under the serial number requirement. The ruling says a change in federal regulations enacted in 2022 now requires firearm parts needed to fully assemble a gun to have serial numbers. However, because the defendant purchased the components to assemble his gun in 2021, those regulations do not apply in his case.

The ruling goes on to state that "personally manufactured firearms that are not required to have serial numbers pose real dangers to public safety, and the proper regulation of such weapons is an important and complex public policy issue." It also notes that many states have regulated "ghost guns" through the legislative process, but Minnesota has not—and “the final decision on the regulation of privately built weapons rests with the legislature.”

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