The Supreme Court will have final say on the ATF’s “frame or receiver” rule this fall after the justices on Monday granted review to a pro-2A lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s 2022 rule.
The controversial rule, which received almost 300,000 public comments during its 90-day comment period, has been embroiled with lawsuits in federal court since taking effect in August 2022. In contradiction to Congress’ definition of the term “firearm” found in the Gun Control Act of 1968, the new rule sought to treat some unfinished frames and receivers as if they were complete and functional firearms in an effort to stop the production of so-called “ghost guns.”
The Firearms Policy Coalition-backed lawsuit, VanDerStok v. Garland, was successful in securing a nationwide order blocking the rule last year, but the Supreme Court intervened and issued a stay on behalf of the Biden Justice Department pending appeal to the Fifth Circuit Court.
In November, the Fifth Circuit held that portions of the ATF rule are unlawful, and the federal government appealed to the Supreme Court in response. The news that the high court will hear the case met with positive response from pro-gun groups including FPC and the Second Amendment Foundation, which signed on as an intervenor in support of the lawsuit.
“FPC and our members look forward to the end of President Biden’s unconstitutional and abusive rule. We are delighted that the Supreme Court will hear our case and decide this important issue once and for all,” FPC founder and President Brandon Combs stated in a news release. “The Fifth Circuit’s decision in our case was correct, and now that victory can be applied to the entire country.”
“…By agreeing to hear our case, the Supreme Court will have the opportunity to put ATF firmly in its place and stop the agency from unconstitutionally expanding its gun control agenda,” added FPC Action Foundation President Cody J. Wisniewski, counsel for the plaintiffs.
When the Supreme Court agreed with the government last August and issued a stay allowing the rule to take effect, conservative-leaning Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett both sided with the three more liberal justices to back the ATF rule. This time, however, the court will hear the case on the merits, and the 2A groups are confident that justice – and common sense – will prevail.
“This case typifies the Biden administration’s war on the Second Amendment,” SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb noted in a press release. “Clearly under Joe Biden, the ATF has unilaterally set itself up as the sole authority on firearms regulation, bypassing Congress and arbitrarily changing long-standing regulations to suit the administration’s anti-gun agenda.”
