On April 26, 2022, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) published a Final Rule in the Federal Register changing the regulatory definition of the term “firearm.” ATF’s imaginative new definition expands the term beyond finished “frames or receivers” Congress had considered to include objects which were never considered to be firearms.
ATF’s redefinition violates the Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”) in several ways, including by defining the terms “frame” and “receiver” to encompass objects which are not firearms, along with parts kits, in direct contradiction of Congress’s definition of those terms found in the Gun Control Act.
On December 23, 2022, the Second Amendment Foundation, alongside Defense Distributed, filed an intervenor’s complaint in an existing lawsuit being litigated in the Northern District of Texas. The lawsuit asks a federal court to hold that the ATF’s new definition is unlawful, set it aside, and preliminarily and permanently enjoin the ATF from utilizing its new definition.
Case Team: Chad Flores
Case Documents
Brief in Support of Motion to Intervene
To access all of the case documents at the District Court, please visit the docket.
To view documents filed on appeal, please visit the Court of Appeals docket.
Case Media