Posted on 08/09/2023 6:05:55 AM PDT by Red Badger
The Supreme Court stayed Tuesday a lower court decision to vacate a rule designed to crack down on “ghost guns” by regulating gun parts kits as traditional firearms.
The Biden administration asked the Supreme Court on July 27 to restore the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives “Frame or Receiver” rule, which expands the definition of firearm to include parts kits that are “readily convertible to functional weapons” or “functional ‘frames’ or ‘receivers’ of weapons,” arguing a federal judge’s decision to vacate the rule “is irreparably harming the public and the government.”
dailycallerlogo United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas Reed O’Connor found the rule exceeded ATF’s authority and issued a judgement on July 5 vacating it nationwide.
The Supreme Court stayed the lower court order pending its appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, and Neil Gorsuch would have denied the application for a stay.
“The district court’s universal vacatur is irreparably harming the public and the government by reopening the floodgates to the tide of untraceable ghost guns flowing into our nation’s communities,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the Supreme Court. “Once those guns are sold, the damage is done: Some will already be in the hands of criminals and other prohibited persons—and when they are inevitably used in crimes, they are untraceable.”
In his opinion on June 30, O’Connor wrote that the rule exceeds the authority granted to the ATF by Congress.
“This case presents the question of whether the federal government may lawfully regulate partially manufactured firearm components, related firearm products, and other tools and materials in keeping with the Gun Control Act of 1968,” the district court judge wrote in a June 30 opinion. “Because the Court concludes that the government cannot regulate those items without violating federal law, the Court holds that the government’s recently enacted [rule] is unlawful agency action taken in excess of the ATF’s statutory jurisdiction.”
Richard Thomson, vice president of communications for the Firearms Policy Coalition, one of the plaintiffs who challenged the rule, called the district court judge’s decision “a monumental victory against the tyrannical ATF.”
“Firearms Policy Coalition and FPC Law have argued that this rogue agency has unlawfully attacked gun owners in this latest round of ‘rulemaking’ and we are grateful to see the Court agree,” Thomson said in a statement following the judge’s decision.
2A Ping!.........................
So no more 80% lowers I guess.
As I understand it this decision just stayed a lower court ruling until the case can work its way through the system.
I don’t know much about guns, but my default position is to be 100% opposite of Biden.
Sounds like that pesky Supreme Court is finally starting to see the Bill of Rights the same way Bidenskyyyy and his RATS see them. A real PITA.
I may be wrong but I believe this only affected “kits” with the 80% lower and all the jigs and bits needed.
You can still buy it all separately.
< /ATF logic. >
At what point does the ATF say that a block of metal becomes a ‘banned’ lower?
There are plenty of low-cost CNC machines available on Amazon and the necessary files are online.
Are we going to get to the point that a 0% complete lower (i.e. a block of metal is banned)?
Controlling the "kits" is only the first step. The next will be "intent" to manufacture, just like with possession of suppressor parts, the "intent" will mean an 80% receiver is a firearm, and eventually a 0% receiver will be a firearm because you "intend" to create one. Then possession of a block of metal with an "unlicensed" machine tool will be next.
Yes. Because you "intend" to create a firearm and possession of a chunk of metal of the approximate part construes "intent," just like suppressor parts.
Don’t forget 3D Printers...............
Intent to manufacture only applies to regulated items such as suppressors auto selectors and such. It has always been legal to build your own firearm in the good old USA. You can legally own piles of parts and hunks of metal in a complete machine shop,
Not that the ATF won’t try to overstep that boundary. There is a man in prison for just talking about a novelty metal business card/bottle opener that had an autosear etched on it on his youtube channel.
> There is a man in prison for just talking about a novelty metal business card/bottle opener that had an autosear etched on it on his youtube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/@CRSFirearms
Anybody want to invest in my new venture selling 79% lowers?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.