Lately, it seems that there is another new infringement on the Second Amendment with every new day. In the latest chapter, on Monday, a San Francisco-based, Obama-appointed U.S. District Court judge, Edward Chen, struck down a Biden administration "ghost gun" rule in response to a plaintiff's argument that the rule doesn't go far enough.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco added to the uncertainty surrounding the 2022 rule. The administration earlier this month asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a November ruling from the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that found the regulation unlawful in a separate challenge filed by gun rights groups.

The U.S. Supreme Court has at the administration's request in that case allowed the regulations to remain in effect while litigation continues.

The California case was brought by the state's Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta and the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which argued the rule the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives adopted did not go far enough to prohibit ghost guns.

Here's the nub of the ruling:

The California plaintiffs took issue with how the rule treated partially complete receivers for AR-15 type semi-assault rifles as firearms only if they were sold with tools or jigs that could make them functional, even if those tools could be bought separately.

Chen agreed with them that by doing so, the agency acted arbitrarily and capaciously in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act by not explaining why it is not regulating such partially complete receivers as firearms.

It's unclear what a "semi-assault" rifle is.

This rule has already been contested in the courts and would appear to be headed for a richly deserved overturning.

See Related: Biden's ATF Wins a Round in SCOTUS on Ghost Guns but the Outlook Is Grim for the Feds

Biden's 'Ghost Gun' Ban Gets Thrashed by Fifth Circuit Setting on the Road to the Supreme Court

As per usual, the federal government and the Biden administration, in pursuing these nebulous rules against "ghost guns," are looking for a black dog in the night. These rules are the purest form of political windbaggery; they will have zero effect on criminals, especially in this day of 3D printing. That genie is out of the bottle and there is no putting it back. 3D printing plans for a variety of weapons are already available on the internet, and as everyone should know by now, the internet is forever; once something is up there, especially if it's in the uncontrolled "dark web," there's no pulling it out. 

There is, then, no real reason for this ruling except for the inevitable political exercise that pops up every time there is a publicized shooting (as in, one that isn't carried out by urban gang members shooting at each other). That exercise always takes the same form:

1. We need to do something.
2. This is something!
3. Let's do this!

It's a rare day when any efforts taken under this exercise have the effect intended — in this case, controlling criminal access to firearms. But then, controlling crime isn't really the goal, is it? Controlling the law-abiding, on the other hand...

It's all about control. It's always about control. Once you realize that, everything else starts to make sense.