FARGO, ND -(Ammoland.com)- Gun Owners of America (GOA), Bridge City Ordinance, and North Dakota resident Eliezer Jimenez have sued the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) over its new rule on unfinished frames and receivers.
After Joe Biden became president, he tasked the ATF to come up with new regulations surrounding privately manufactured firearms (PMF) and pistol stabilizing devices. Biden’s ATF unveiled new rules for a public comment period. Gun owners flooded the comments, but the Bureau moved forward and unveiled the new rules in the White House Rose Garden.
The rule is due to go into effect in late August. According to the new regulation, Americans can still build their own firearms, but it does make it almost impossible to get all the parts to build a gun. Frames and jigs cannot be sold together. If a gun owner buys the items separately, the ATF will consider that structuring the purchases to get around the new regulation.
The other big issue is that if a company sells a frame, and a second company sells a jig, and a customer buys the items from both companies, those companies can be charged with conspiracy. The ATF will charge both companies with conspiracy even if the companies are not connected in any way besides a customer using both sites to purchase items. The lawsuit challenges both of these points in the ATF’s final rule on PMF.
The suit is over 150 pages long and attacks the new regulations on multiple fronts.
One of the plaintiffs is Bridge City Ordinance. Bridge City Ordinance is a gun dealer with a federal firearms license (FFL). One service Bridge City Ordinance offers is Cerakoting. Cerakoting is a process used in painting a firearm. The process takes several days to complete.
Currently, if a customer brings Bridge City Ordinance a PMF to Cerakote, the company can Cerakote the firearms, and there is no need to serialize that gun. Under the final rule, Bridge City Ordinance will need to serialize the customer’s frame before the firearm can be transferred back to the customer. A lot of Cerakote businesses do not have the equipment to be able to engrave a serial number on a firearm frame. Laser engravers and CNC machines cost thousands of dollars which is unrealistic for a smaller shop.
GOA fears these new rules mean that gunsmiths will not take in homemade guns to avoid the headache of serialization.
Even if a firearm is built from an 80% kit and is brought to a gunsmith for the installation of new sights, the gunsmith will have to serialize the frame if they need to keep the firearm overnight. AmmoLand News talked to several gun shops that do not have engravers and plan on not working on PMFs after the new rule takes effect.
Another issue GOA has with the final rule is that it requires gun store owners to keep records of transfers forever. Right now, an FFL is permitted to destroy all ATF Form 4473 older than 20 years old. The new rule puts an ever-increasing burden on FFLs. GOA claims these new rules run afoul of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The gun-rights group believes that the ATF is abusing its power by adding these new requirements through the rule-making process instead of going through Congress.
The group is asking for the judge to issue a nationwide injunction blocking the new rule from going into effect and seeks to protect the rights of gun owners and the gun-building community.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
The ATF does not make law >>> The ATF should be disbanded with prejudice do to their illegal activities. Our lawmakers are complacent with the unlawful behavior of the ATF.
Joe Biden has no concept of reality and the rule of law his career is a record of twist and turns supporting whatever his party demanded at the time.
True technically, but BATFE does author their section of the Code of Federal Regulations, which often goes beyond the Congressional Acts. The Code of Federal Regulations (known as CFRs) has “the force and effect of law” and there is the rub! That is the unconstitutional part. Federal agencies have been doing this “authoring” since FDR.
I believe this is no longer true using the SCOTUS decision over theEPA. That decision was HUGE for the citizenry. Especially seeing they keep loading shit upon shit on an ACTUAL Amendment. Com’on guys we can take all the three letter BS agencies apart with this ruling. I believe is was bigger than over turning Roe V Wade in many ways
Yes, W.VA. v. EPA is a huge victory for all of us. What is the “this” that you think is no longer true?
The big sea change that’s not listed here is not only the new court scrutiny standards set by NYSR&PA v Bruen, but the even more direct West Virginia v EPA from this last Thursday. The WV decision stripped government agencies of the “Chevron Defense” (our agency deals in this and knows more than the courts, thereby the courts defer to the agency’s knowledge and authoritative body). Without the Chevron Defense, agencies are now no longer able to regulate beyond the four corners of the written congressional law. They may not invent regulation nor may they grant themselves authority beyond congress.… Read more »
I believe that the decision was correct. The constitution specifically spells out that the legislature is the body that makes laws. Since you say that some 80% of the BATFE is now gone, perhaps they should be either disbanded, or significantly restructured, to stop buying so much ammo and taking so many liberties in so far as gun registration is concerned.
A certain bit of irony going on here. In WV vs EPA, SCOTUS ruled that it is not constitutional for an agency to grant itself powers not given to it by Congress.
The irony is that in Marbury v Madison, SCOTUS granted itself the power to make that kind of decision.
That is a very good and much overlooked point!
Yep.
“Unconstitutional law is not law.” [Good]
“But don’t try this at home. Leave it to The Legal Priesthood.” [Bad]
Officials go along with the arrogation as cover to shirk the oath, pass-issue-enforce-tolerate any law, decree, order or regulation on the theory it’s not up to them, if it’s wrong the court will say so.
But the arrogation is unconstitutional, not binding on those who take the oath. If SCOTUS issues an incompetent or bad faith subversive judgment nothing in the Constitution requires the Pres or other sworn officer to OBEY. On the contrary.
Like the Miller opinion? Obviously so.
Yes sir, that decision is a big step back to the Constitution. We are ecstatic! Hope that you had a restful Independence Day.
I thought that was corrected by the supreme court. If every government could make its own laws why would the american people need congress and the senate???
Do you mean if every agency could make its own rules why would the American people need Congress?
What I was trying to explain is how agencies have, in the past ( from FDR’s time, until W.VA. v. EPA ) have wrote their own rules.
We will see soon how effective W. VA v. EPA will be, going forward, at curtailing the federal agencies from making their own rules.
As we have all learned those elected do not care about rules or the law. Executive orders signed at the hand of a incompante president have already proven to be disaster.
Washington DC is a lawless wasteland a political juggernaut that now has no moral compass.
We can only hope that ruling will take hold
throughout the alphabet agencies and in all government run offices.
Fraudulent pres told BATFE to change the law. Congress didn’t pass any law. BATFE has zero authority to do it. Their entire existence and purpose is to unlawfully infringe on the 2nd.
We will not comply.
waiting for atf to be fed crow by scotus
Oh they will and it will be glorious.
that will be a good read, full shellacking by court
If I were ever forced to add a serial number to a firearm it would start with FJBXXXXX.
KMAssUpos001.. works for me …and as to forced they come to my house with intent to force anything hope they have lots of body bags Im set to mow the yard
Just to be on the safe side, I one I made laser engraved…KMAPLZ-01
Our 3 tier system of checks and balances has been broken for a long time.
With the refusal of each branch to live up to their constitutional duties
Yes, the ingredient lacking in the recipe was and continues to be honest people.
The result of handing a rules based system over to people who turn rules into pretzels for a living.
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other”. — John Adams
Four tier. The actual first branch is WE THE PEOPLE and we can do a lot on criminal juries in the way of nullification that they would be very upset about. https://fija.org
atf needs to stay in confines of the law just like epa. they cant make it up as they go
The SOTUS decision on the EPA last week should blow this POS rule out of the water. Bureaucrats no longer can just flippantly make law. Let’s use our heads and beat this commie bastards like they like to beat on us. We are the sovereign not any ATF ASSHOLE
And the administrative state and its many rogue agencies simply said ‘meeh.’
They said “meeh, We have unlimited funds, trained sniper teams, communications and coordination, and weapons patriots will not be able to match.”
Problem with people who believe they are “the law” is that they always think they are in the right. Unfortunately they also advertise and have convinced most media and most of the population that they are. Many are hoping for an excuse to start killing Americans.
“Many are hoping for an excuse to start killing Americans.” because they are psychopathic control freaks who typically see themselves as being invulnerable. HOWEVER a bunch of goat herders kept two major powers at bay for YEARS. What would happen if people said no and sent ATF goons back home in boxes with no air holes? And pulled an Unintended Consequences moment on them? Just keep it up is all I can say…the killer bees will sting your ass into oblivion.
Screw the ATF if gun making is my hobby I’m going to do it, I’ll just pretend to be a Biden and cherry pick the laws I like or don’t
ATF needs to be disbanded a long time ago just another infringment on our sacred 2A
Looking at the from a much broader perspective this is a prime example, evidence exhibit A in my argument that we we ceased being a Constitutional Republic in the 1930’s and have gone down hill ever since. The administrative state, the fourth ‘branch’ of government makes its own rules in spite of what the legislatures enact. Note the comment periods in the Code for Federal Regulations filing procedures. Yes, they collect and then deep six your comments sneering all the way. The Progressive Movement saw the administrative state and bureaucracy as the ‘science and reason based’ solution to the messy… Read more »
A convention of the States would be very dangerous! We could end up getting really screwed with something more convoluted than what we have now!
So does my right to keep and bear arms rest on the ink of some document? I THINK NOT!
There is a reason that “they” don’t listen to the people anymore. It is also the reason they ignore the provisions of the 2nd amendment. The reason is that the lynch pins to the Constitution were removed in 1903 & 1913. In 1903 the blatantly UNconstitutional Dick Act, which was a blatant act of TREASON, eviscerated states rights with the ending of STATE militias. Those first 13 words of the 2nd Amendment are perhaps the most IMPORTANT 13 words in the whole Constitution. A well regulated MILITIA being NECESSARY for the SECURITY of a FREE State. It is the ONLY place… Read more »
That’s why I’m a life member. I remember interviewing Larry Pratt on my “Love of Truth” talk show I used to have on Sunday in Washington state. I’ve supported them for over 30 years and became a life member.
I saw the ATF was harassing a business so I took a group picture for my collection…
I’m feeling so warm and fuzzy all over! The hair on the back of my neck is standing up from all the wonderful news I’m hearing! I feel so much safer knowing that a number will be on a firearm and that will keep it from every doing anything bad to anyone! The “law” is a good law because the government would never make a bad law or a bad rule! Why they have nothing but good intentions in mind! I love my slave masters! I want to bow down and worship them at any opportunity! All hail mighty Chairman… Read more »
Opposite situation could be the case. They have decided that they will definitely lose power, so have to impose everything this year. It is far harder to undo tyrannical government than to prevent it in the first place. They are counting on gun rights not acquiring enough power to overcome presidential veto, thus leaving rules in place for at least a couple years. After rules have been in place a couple years, they sort of gain tenure and become even harder to overcome. Fortunately we’ve recently seen that rulings/rules/regulation/law can be overturned despite being law-of-the-land for nearly half a century.… Read more »
^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^