ATF Backs Down, Won’t Appeal Decision That Franklin Armory Reformation is a Standard, Non-NFA Firearm

Franklin Armory introduced the Reformation back in 2018. It’s a non-rifled (it actually has straight lands and grooves), non-shotgun, short-barreled firearm that’s kinda neither here nor there. In fact, it was designed to neatly fit between the definitions written into the NFA and the Gun Control Act, allowing it to be chambered in rifle calibers (either 5.56 or 300 Blackout) with a short barrel and a real stock…all while avoiding NFA regulation.

To no one’s surprise, the great regulatory minds at ATF bristled at this unbridled expression of ingenuity and the company’s careful reading of the laws. In 2019, the waived their regulatory wands and magically declared the Reformation to be a short-barrel shotgun. The same applied to the Franklin Antithesis which was introduced later and chambered for .45 Colt and .410 shells. The company sued along with the Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition.

In February, a District Court judge ruled that — go figure — words actually mean things. As Judge Daniel M. Traynor wrote in his ruling . . .

Franklin Armory presented a square peg, and ATF shoved it into a round hole. If Congress wanted “shotgun” to be a catch-all category for anything that doesn’t fit “rifle,” it could have done so. . . . . It is not for ATF to redefine the terms because it thinks Congress didn’t intend a certain outcome. Therefore, ATF exceeded its authority in defining “smoothbore” as anything lacking “functional rifling.”

He vacated the ATF’s ruling, but ATF appealed. Now, however, given the Trump administration’s dictum to reevaluate ATF’s positions on a host of moves it made during the Biden years, the agency has backed down and entered into an agreement with Franklin. They issued an open letter last week acknowledging that neither the Reformation nor the Antithesis is an SBR or SBS. Both are considered “other firearms” under the language of the Gun Control Act and they’re not covered by the NFA.

Here’s Franklin Armory’s statement . . .

Franklin Armory, one of America’s leading manufacturers of innovative firearms and accessories, and the Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition issued the following statement today regarding the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Open Letter advising FFLs on the classification of Franklin Armory’s Reformation firearm:

Shortly after President Trump issued his executive order directing the Department of Justice to review and correct anti-Second Amendment abuses of power by previous administrations, DOJ and ATF abandoned their appeal of a Federal District Court Judge’s ruling in our favor that had rectified the misclassification of Franklin Armory’s Reformation firearm. While we were confident of another victory on appeal, fortunately, the current leadership at both DOJ and ATF proved to have more respect for legal principles than their predecessors and avoided further miring the parties into an even longer drawn-out legal battle.

This Open Letter formally reaffirms what we have known to be true all along: Reformation can only be classified as a standard “firearm” under the Gun Control Act and is completely exempt from the National Firearms Act. Furthermore, it is neither a short-barreled shotgun nor short-barreled rifle under the GCA.

Additionally, by the parties entering into this agreement, DOJ’s and ATF’s position on Reformation’s classification is now clear. This means that consumers nationwide—at least in free states— will continue to have unfettered access to the ultimate home defense weapon for protection of self, family, and property, free and clear of all NFA restrictions in the form of Franklin Armory’s Reformation series of firearms.

We are grateful to Attorney General Bondi and ATF Acting Director Driscoll for recognizing the validity of our case and appreciate their combined efforts to negotiate an agreement. Settling this case not only rights a wrong perpetrated against a constitutionally-protected business seeking nothing more than to engage in lawful commerce, but also helps to reestablish integrity and trust between industry and executive branch institutions.

The ATF’s Open Letter regarding Reformation was issued earlier today as a negotiated action in the recent settlement between Franklin Armory and co-plaintiff FRAC (Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in FRAC, et al. v. Bondi, et al. (formerly FRAC, et al. v. Garland, et al.) at the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and the District of North Dakota.