Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas District Court has just issued summary judgment and VACATED the ATF’s unlawful classification of FRTs as machineguns. You can read the ruling here.
This case was litigated over the ATF’s violation of the Administrative Procedures Act. In other words, the ATF effectively wrote a new definition of machinegun without congressional authority.
As Judge O’Connor stated in his ruling:
The crux of this case is that the executive branch has improperly usurped legislative authority by enacting criminal prohibitions that are beyond the scope of its legislatively granted authority. Now, Defendants seek to arrogate unto themselves the judicial authority as well by placing their actions beyond the reach of pre-enforcement judicial review. This is not and cannot be.
This decision was largely based on the recent Garland v. Cargill Supreme Court ruling striking down the ATF’s ban on bump stocks, which was determined on the same grounds.
Along with the vacatur of the ATF’s classification, Judge O’Connor has also ordered the agency return any FRTs it has confiscated to their lawful owners.
The courts have just handed another huge blow to the ATF’s executive overreach, but the rogue agency will fight tooth and nail to continue its violations of your rights.
The ATF will certainly appeal this decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, where they will likely ask for a stay of the district court’s decision while the case is litigated there.
If you are keeping track, this is the fourth time we have beaten the ATF on this issue. We previously won a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement against our members, and both the district court and the Fifth Circuit refused the ATF’s requests to suspend that order.
We are hopeful that the Fifth Circuit will once again deny the ATF’s requests.
We will continue to fight the ATF over this issue, even if it takes us all the way to the Supreme Court. The ATF will certainly appeal this decision soon, you can contribute to our legal war chest to continue this fight here.
