Firearm Industry Trade Association Files Amicus Brief In Garland v. Cargill

Opinion

Slide Fire SSAR-15 Mod Bump Fire Stock Pistol Grip
Slide Fire SSAR-15 Mod Bump Fire Stock Pistol Grip

WASHINGTON, D.C. – NSSF, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the challenge by Michael Cargill in Garland v. Cargill. Cargill challenges that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) overstepped its authority when officials there published a Final Rule that criminalized the possession of “bump stocks” by classifying them as “machineguns.”

“No matter what their intent is, ATF does not have the authority to supersede Congress by writing their own criminal law,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President & General Counsel. “Drafting criminal law through the rule-making process has become a dangerous habit of the Executive Branch that threatens the separation of powers and threatens to relegate the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution as secondary to the whims of bureaucratic authorities. This dangerous precedent must be challenged or we risk surrendering our rights to the administrative state.”

NSSF’s amicus brief argues that the ATF’s bump stock rule exemplifies a troubling trend of ATF regulatory overreach.

That has resulted in destabilizing consequences for both the firearm industry and the people whose rights it enables. The ATF initially told the public of bump stocks, “that they were not machineguns” according to the definition approved by Congress and maintained this position for over a decade, including in interpretation letters to the public. That meant possession of the firearm accessory was legal and didn’t fall into the restrictions under the 1934 National Firearms Act that governs possession of automatic firearms.

The ATF’s position on bump stocks changed following the 2017 tragedy in Las Vegas when an individual criminally misused firearms, equipped with bump stocks, to attack concertgoers. President Donald Trump vowed to eliminate bump stocks regardless of Congress. The ATF carried out this order with the Final Rule that bypassed Congress and its sole authority to write criminal law by reclassifying bump stocks as “machineguns” and subjecting owners to criminal penalties.

Cargill challenged the ATF’s authority to unilaterally change criminal law through the rule-making process and was unsuccessful at a U.S. District Court and a panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling. However, an en banc rehearing by the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed (13-2) the panel’s decision.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) petitioned to the U.S. Supreme Court, which granted review.

Firearm Industry Trade Association’s Amicus Brief In Garland V. Cargill


About The National Shooting Sports Foundation

NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations, and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org

National Shooting Sports Foundation

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swmft

amen

Laddyboy

I agree the Bureaucratic ATF MUST be REMOVED and stripped from all power. Considering the bureaucratic atf department was created ILLEGALLY by a MEMO from a “director at the IRS” and was NEVER AUTHORIZED by CONGRESS!! HOWEVER, FIRST, ALL of the “rules and regulations” this bureacratic office MUST BE STRICKEN from EVERY LAW ENFORCMENT AGENCY!

Laddyboy

Bureaucratic offices ARE NOT, by law, enabled to make or change laws! ONLY CONGRESS CAN MAKE OR CHANGE LAWS. Thus, ANY Rule or Regulation BUREAUCRATS of ANY Bureau or governmental offices ARE BREAKING CONSTITUTIONAL LAW when they attempt to make or change any law without going through the CONGRESSIONAL PROCEDURE and that “law, rule or regulation” IS NULL AND VOID!

Stag

The NSSF is a lot like the NRA when it comes to some of these laws. They supported the two people responsible for this and had the power to stop it. Now they want to come in and act like they oppose it. This looks an awful lot like they’re trying to jump on the bandwagon after the fact and after the hard work has been put in by someone else. Much like the NRA did with Heller.

swmft

atf needs to be shut down and most of its people jailed

JimQ

good. I hope this lunacy is overturned and bureaucrats are no longer allowed to create laws.