The Gun Owners of America (GOA) and its sister organization, the Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court last week in Garland v. Vanderstock, urging the court to uphold a lower court ruling against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
The declaration that firearm parts, namely the frame and receiver, are themselves firearms and that owners are required to register them with the authorities has been condemned as a blatant abuse of authority, but this issue has never been resolved.
Victory doesn't last forever
The New American declared a victory when U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor of the Northern District of Texas made the injunction against the ATF permanent. But there is no such thing as a permanent victory. “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,” and so is the long war waged by would-be dictators against precious rights.
The ATF appealed the decision to the Fifth Circuit, which upheld the lower court's decision. But in April, the Supreme Court announced it would hear the case, and GOA and its sister organization, GOF, filed a supportive brief with the Supreme Court, urging it to uphold the Fifth Circuit's decision.
In her original judgment, Justice O'Connor stated clearly:
A part that has not yet been completed or converted to function as a frame or receiver is not a frame or receiver. ATF's declaration that a component is a “frame or receiver” does not mean that it actually is…
Because the final rule purports to regulate both firearm parts that are not already “frames or receivers” and collections of weapon parts that are not subject to its statutory authority, the Court finds that ATF acted beyond its statutory jurisdiction by promulgating it.
This is precisely the case that GOA and GOF argue in their report: “An unfinished precursor to a firearm cannot simultaneously be a firearm itself,” and therefore, “ATF exceeded its statutory authority in promulgating this rule.”
National Firearms Registry
And he reminded the Supreme Court of the motivation behind the rule: “The Biden-Harris Administration's ultimate goal with this rule is to force everyone to serialize the firearms they own, a necessary step for ATF to establish a comprehensive firearms registry.”
This in itself is a precursor to gun confiscation.
“We are pleased to welcome GOA to the 2019 Global Action Network,” said Eric Pratt, GOA's senior vice president.
We are proud to have been involved in the legal fight against this rule from the beginning, and are thrilled that the Supreme Court is hearing the case.
The Biden-Harris ATF is waging a war on the Second Amendment and we cannot allow them to win any.
And speaking for GOF, Sam Paredes added:
Despite outrage from the anti-gun movement over so-called “ghost guns,” Americans have the right to manufacture their own homemade firearms.
We have worked closely with our partners opposing this rule from the beginning, and we hope the Supreme Court will once again make clear that ATF acted far beyond its legal authority in drafting this rule.
Rogue institutions
The report harshly criticized the ATF for acting “well beyond its legal authority.”
The statute does not apply to unfinished frames, receivers, or weapon part kits.
(ATF) incorrectly states how easy it is to get a firearm that is “80%” functional.
(ATF) downplays this expansion by falsely suggesting that the rule merely codifies past practice.
If the ruling is in the ATF's favor, it would uphold the ATF's policy of broadly outlawing semi-automatic rifles because they can be easily converted into machine guns.
The rule is just one step in the administration's broader plan to create a prohibitive registry of gun owners who will be subject to future confiscation.
The report is a scathing attack on the ATF for its abuse of power.
When the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) promulgated its 2022 “Frame or Receiver” rules at the president’s behest, the agency promised that such measures would “clarify” federal firearms law.
True to ATF rules, the rules did not allow for that…
Ultimately, this Court should consider this rule in the context of the current Administration’s firearms policy. This rule is just one step in an implicit but clear plan to overturn the Firearm Owners Protection Act and create a registry of all American firearm owners.
By upholding the Fifth Circuit's decision, gun owners will be protected from harm that awaits them under a future administration that is hostile to the Second Amendment.
The high court is scheduled to hear the case this autumn, with a final ruling due in June 2025.
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Gun Owners Win: The frame and receiver are not the gun!
