Judge Reed O’Connor, a U.S. District Judge in Texas, slammed the brakes on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) ridiculous rule that classified unfinished frames and receivers as actual firearms.
The judge ruled that the ATF exceeded its authority with its new regulations. As the judiciary has had to contend with in many instances related to the Second Amendment, the agency crossed the line into creating new law.
This is the sole purview of Congress as laid out by the Constitution.
The lawsuit against the sweeping ATF rule was brought by the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), and a host of individual plaintiffs. The FPC celebrated the victory in a message to gun rights supporters.
FPC Counsel Cody J. Wisniewski declared, “we’re thrilled to see the Court agree that the ATF’s Frame or Receiver Rule exceeds the agency’s congressionally limited authority.” He noted that the agency “cannot enforce that which it never had the authority to publish in the first place.”
Wisniewski called the decision a “monumental” win against the “tyrannical” ATF.
In the ruling, O’Connor asserted that “an illegitimate agency action is void ab initio (from the beginning) and therefore cannot be remanded as there is nothing for the agency to justify.
In plain English, a clear win for the Second Amendment and the litigants who faithfully defended the rights of U.S. gun owners.
This court action became necessary after last year’s ATF “ghost gun” rule took effect. The agency justified its action through a statement.
According to ATF Director Steven Dettelbach, the partially completed pistol frames “must have serial numbers so that law enforcement can trace if they are used in crimes like other guns.”
Further, he said that those in the industry offering them for sale “must be licensed dealers and run background checks.”
To summarize, the December announcement meant that products deemed “partially complete” or “80% frames” were required to be bought, sold or transferred through a federally licensed firearms dealer (FFL) in the same manner as new firearms.
Dettelbach’s letter clarified the term “readily” as used in the ATF Final Rule that was implemented in August 2022. The statement declared that the word means “each and every classification of a partially complete frame or receiver.”
As it stated, “even without any associated templates, jigs, molds, equipment, tools, instructions, guides or marketing materials, these partially complete pistol frames are ‘frames’ and also ‘firearms’ as defined in the [Gun Control Act] and its implementing regulations.”
As for what comes next, that is up to the Department of Justice. It is almost certain the DOJ will appeal O’Connor’s ruling to the Fifth Circuit, which at times has leaned towards the rights of gun owners against government overreaches. It has already expressed its displeasure with the ATF’s actions on bump stocks and pistol braces.
The DOJ appeal, if forthcoming, will likely be filed next week. It would be surprising to see the Fifth Circuit reverse O’Connor’s decision or stay his order while the appeal is processed.
As always, exemplary work is being done by organizations bound and determined to stonewall the federal government’s attempts to counteract the Second Amendment. Most of us who benefit from these actions have obligations that prevent us from engaging in the battle full-time.
That’s why it is so important to support those who are on the front lines and celebrate along with them when victories such as Friday’s are won. Freedom is not free, and defending the right to keep and bear arms falls on all of us as we are capable.
