After Cargill and Loper Bright, ATF is Looking More Rickety Every Day
Serial Offender: Why Is ATF Repeatedly Releasing Protected Firearms Data to the Public?
Someone at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) believes it is easier – or more politically convenient – to roll over for gun control activists and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit than it is to defend a federal law protecting firearm trace data. For the second time in […]
Understanding What the Loper Bright and Jarkesy Regulatory Earthquake Means for Gun Owners
As Dan posted yesterday, the Supreme Court has decided Loper Bright v. Raimondo, and in so doing has officially overruled and destroyed the doctrine of Chevron deference. Under Chevron, federal courts were severely handcuffed when evaluating federal agencies’ interpretations of federal law. Loper Bright followed the Court’s decision the day before in SEC v. Jarkesy, which […]
BREAKING: Supreme Court Overrules Chevron Deference, Dealing a Body Blow to ATF Regulatory Power
Imagine if the ATF decided that gun makers had to pay for their agents to monitor compliance in every firearms manufacturer and gun store in the country…and the gun makers and retailers would have to foot the bill. That’s the kind of thing that the National Marine Fisheries Service did when it ruled that fishermen […]
The Supreme Court Lets ATF Know What It Thinks About Its Arbitrary ‘Rulemaking’
In Cargill, SCOTUS Ruled that Words Mean Things and Congress Writes the Laws
By Shelby Baird Smith Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court took a major step in reining in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) administrative overreach. The Court held in Garland v. Cargill that the agency exceeded its statutory authority by classifying semiautomatic rifles equipped with bump stocks as “machineguns” under the National Firearms Act […]
Garland v. Cargill Strengthens the Plaintiffs’ Case on ATF’s Force Reset Trigger Ban
In August 2022, A.T.F. agents showed up at the home of a Rare Breed customer, Patrick Carey, near Baton Rouge, La., with a letter warning him that he might be breaking federal law because he owned guns outfitted with forced-reset triggers, according to court papers. He surrendered two of the triggers to the agents. “I […]
Never Interrupt Your Opponent When She’s Making a Mistake
With the announcement of Friday’s 6-3 Supreme Court decision overturning the block on bump stocks, there were the usual responses from the industry (yay!), the Brady bunch (boo!) and the typical bloviation from observers on both sides of the issue. On the pro-gun side, comments were calm and measured. At the same time, pro-gun leaders […]
District Court VACATES the ATF’s Pistol Brace Rule, Ending Enforcement of the Ban Nationwide
More good news out of the Northern District of Texas. Judge Reed O’Connor has issued a ruling in Mock v. Garland vacating the ATF’s byzantine rule that effectively bans pistol braces. You know…the same pistol braces the ATF had previously said were perfectly fine and an acceptable firearm accessory. That, of course, was back before […]
The Human Cost of ATF’s Zero Tolerance ‘Enhanced’ Regulatory Enforcement
Russell Fincher needed three jobs just to provide for his family in Joe Biden’s economy. He taught high school history, served as a Baptist minister and sold guns and ammunition out of a small shed in the backyard of his Tuskahoma, Oklahoma home. Somehow, he also found time to coach a winning Little League team. […]