U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “David Codrea, Scott Heuman, and Owen Monroe lawfully owned bump stocks,” an amicus brief in support of a complaint by Gun Owners of America, filed Monday in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by attorneys Alan Beck and Stephen Stamboulieh, declares. “They relied on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (‘ATF’) repeated express approval of so-called bump stock-type devices. Despite the ten-plus years of approval, the ATF reimagined and redefined terms in an unambiguous criminal statute to outlaw bump stocks under penalty of prison, fines, and loss of Second Amendment rights.
“As such, they have an interest in the outcome of this case because a positive ruling in the instant matter will assist them in their efforts to have their lawful property returned to them in the future and will help guide other courts in reaching the correct conclusion which is that bump stocks are not machineguns,” the brief explains.
GOA explained its actions in a Monday press release, defining why fighting the ban is essential for all gun owners:
“[P]ermitting ATF to reimagine bump stocks as machineguns in this case will have serious future repercussions, some of which are already occurring. [GOA and GOF] argued that, under the Final Rule, all semi-automatic firearms could qualify as machineguns… Enough is enough. The federal courts cannot stand idly by while ATF continues to blatantly evade the statutes Congress wrote through cutesy ‘interpretations’ of the text, thereafter rubber stamped by judges through use of Chevron deference. The statutory definition of ‘machinegun’ has a clear and unambiguous meaning, and it obviously does not include bump stocks. It is “emphatically the duty” of this Court to find and declare the meaning of the text.”
Forcing a court-ordered return of the property has been my goal. My device fits no rifle that I own but is nonetheless a collector’s item signed by its inventor, Bill Akins. Our complaint, which includes a “takings clause” claim, has wended its way from a standalone action against an acting attorney general to being consolidated with the Guedes v. BATFE complaint. The Supreme Court punted on hearing us, and both cases are currently pending before their circuit courts. So a positive GOA ruling would definitely revitalize our efforts.
A copy of our brief is embedded below. Because most of us aren’t lawyers, here are links to help better understand the legal arguments you’ll see regarding Chevron deference and the rule of lenity.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
Go get em David!
You sir are a theorist and a utopian in the extreme! Since you find this very flawed Republic of ours so horrible, so intolerable, pack your crap up and simply leave: the borders are open! You can buy an airplane ticket, you can buy a boat ticket, for that matter you can get in your car and drive to the northern border and become a Canadian citizen, post haste! Democracy is indeed bad and our constitutional Republican form of it is bad too, except of course for what Winston Churchill had to say about it: it’s the worst form of… Read more »
“Forcing a court-ordered return of the property has been my goal. My device fits no rifle that I own but is nonetheless a collector’s item signed by its inventor, Bill Akins.”
Seriously? You KNOW it’s already been recycled into a park bench in Gravelly Park.
I required a signed receipt, so there would be all kinds of repercussions if it turns up missing.
Yup. David has seen this horror flick before, a few times. He is also wide awake.
What sort of repercussions? Govt employees are rarely held accountable for anything, including murder.
From our original complaint and a part of the official court record:
The repercussions would come from a federal judge interested in preserving his own authority who would not be amused at having it undermined by clearly illegal shenanigans.
Good. Fingers crossed for one of the relatively few honest constitutionalists, unlike John Obamacare Roberts, Trump’s three “Federalist” Society No-Standing “justices”, the rubber-stamp FISA court etc.
Larry ,would you please clarify your statement ?
Is it a sort of sarcastic recognition about how the deck seems stacked against us, or a statement highly critical of David Codrea ?
My experience from living in more than one second-amendment hellhole is that when you have a firearm seized, you will never get it back — it doesn’t matter whether it was seized rightfully or wrongfully, and it definitely doesn’t matter whether you win or lose your case. It will be “lost,” or “damaged in storage,” or some other “not my job” excuse. And it’s not only firearms, it’s computer equipment, yard equipment, anything. The process is the punishment. And if you complain about it or make any move to have it returned, there will be another surprise complaint lodged against… Read more »
WTF? First of all you totally dismiss the fight for YOUR freedom and liberty in these actions by these Patriots and secondly? These are made out of plastic.
I do not doubt that Larry is right. ATF never intended to warehouse and protect property seized. Most likely they have destroyed or otherwise disposed of said property.
I pray David Codrea is correct that there will be repercussions. In fact this aspect alone is critical and has far broader applicability. When government can act outside the law, we do not have rule-of-law. That way lies anarchy.
I would not hazard a guess about the real intentions of the ATF other than whatever they might be, it will not be supportive of 2ND Amendment rights. I think Mr. Codrea has every right to believe his property will be held until all court cases are resolved. It may be that many of the opinions offered here come from people with no actual experience in such matters. I had always heard that when the feds take your property that they wrote you a receipt. Then I found out first hand that it was true. Back in the days that… Read more »
Park benches are made of plastic these days. Just as Woody Guthrie sang in his Talking Columbia Blues, “everthin’s gonna be made outta plastic”. He said that in 1947. I got the take that Larry is just being realistic about how perfidious gummit dweebs are… based on history, they tend to do what they want to do, hope the courts bck them up, and if they don’t oh well, the individual making the decision can always be relocated to a small atttoll in the Pacific, collecting a new and bigger salary AND his retirement pension from his former position. I… Read more »
Yes, so are recycled park benches today.