The Second Amendment Foundation and Defense Distributed today filed briefs in federal court in Texas supporting their motions for a preliminary injunction and summary judgment in VanDerStok v. Garland which challenges the ATF’s final rule on unfinished gun receivers and parts kits.

The brief supporting SAF’s summary judgment motion may be read here. The SAF brief supporting the motion for a preliminary injunction may be read here.

The briefs were filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division. The case was initially brought by two Texas residents, a retailer and manufacturer. SAF and Defense Distributed intervened and contend the rule was adopted in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). Named as defendants are Attorney General Merrick Garland, Steven Dettelbach, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Department of Justice. Read more

For more information contact:
Mark Oliva 202-220-1340

WASHINGTON, D.C. — NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, welcomed the introduction of H.R. 53, the Firearm Industry Nondiscrimination (FIND) Act, into Congress by U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.). The bill has 55 original co-sponsors. This vital legislation will end the ability of corporate entities to profit from taxpayer-funded federal contracts while discriminating against a Constitutionally-protected industry at the same time.

“This legislation will help put an end to ‘woke’ corporations profiting from taxpayer-funded contracts while denying those same taxpayers access to their Second Amendment rights by using their financial might to deny essential services to members of the firearm industry,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “Corporations, in particular financial institutions, have been improperly dictating public policies from boardrooms that throttle Constitutionally-protected firearm businesses. The entire firearm industry thanks Congressman Bergman for his leadership to ensure fairness in business, reasserting Congress’s role in setting public policy and ensuring the federal government isn’t picking winners and losers in the marketplace based on politics. This legislation protects the ability of a lawful industry to compete for services without artificial and agenda-driven barriers.”

Congressman Bergman’s FIND Act does not tell companies with whom they must do business. However, just as companies can choose who they wish to do business with, so can the government when it spends taxpayer money. This bill ensures corporations cannot benefit from contracts and subcontracts funded by taxpayers only to use their financial strength to unfairly discriminate against the firearm industry. For far too long, corporations have engaged in “boardroom gun control” to force firearm businesses to adopt measures that would restrict Americans’ Second Amendment rights. Corporations are free to hold these anti-Second Amendment policies if they choose but would forfeit access to lucrative federal contracts.

Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott signed a similar law in Texas in 2021 and similar legislation is being considered in other state capitols. Congressman Bergman’s legislation would bring those same fair business protections to the federal government to ensure corporate entities are not forcing policies that deny American civil liberties through the benefit of taxpayer-funded federal contracts. Read more

Contact:
Mark Oliva 202-220-1340

H.R. 38 Would End Patchwork of Confusing Gun Law for CC Permit Holders

GW: Please! Sure not to pass. Again. The votes won’t be there, dang it.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, wholeheartedly welcomes U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson’s (R-N.C.) introduction of the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2023, H.R. 38. The legislation was introduced with bipartisan support and 118 original co-sponsors, demonstrating the wide-ranging support for protecting law-abiding concealed carry permit holders from navigating a patchwork of varying gun control laws when crossing a state line.

The bill aims to eliminate the confusion of varying state laws and provide protection for Second Amendment rights for permit holders. The legislation would allow handgun owners who are legally permitted and authorized by their home state to lawfully carry a concealed firearm in other states provided they comply with the law in other states – much in the same way a driver’s license is recognized. Read more

Learn the facts, or you will get what you pay for.

BELLEVUE, WA – Attorneys for the Second Amendment Foundation and its allies have filed a brief supporting their earlier motion for summary judgment in a federal challenge of Illinois’ ban on concealed carry by young adults in a case known as Meyer v. Raoul.

The brief was filed today in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. The lawsuit was filed in May 2021 by SAF, the Illinois State Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc., and three private citizens in the 18-21-year age group, David Meyer, Eva Davis and Mitchell Nalley. They are represented by attorneys David G. Sigale of David G. Sigale, P.C. in Wheaton, Ill., Christian D. Ambler of Stone & Johnson in Chicago and David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson and William V. Bergstrom, all with Cooper & Kirk PLLC in Washington, D.C. Read more

Innovative armorer and Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition file a lawsuit

holding key government officials accountable for arbitrary and capricious policies and rulings

MINDEN, Nev. –– Franklin Armory, Inc., a leading U.S.-based manufacturer of firearms and accessories, in conjunction with the Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition, Inc. (FRAC), today announced that it has filed a federal lawsuit challenging wrongful classification of firearms and regulatory delays by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The Co-Plaintiff, FRAC, is a nonprofit organization demanding accountability, transparency, and fairness from those agencies that regulate firearms.

The case, Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition, Inc., et al. v. Merrick B. Garland, et al., seeks the immediate promulgation of procedures and forms necessary to facilitate sales and transfers of Franklin Armory’s Reformation® firearm line as required by law. The case also seeks the immediate reclassification of Franklin Armory’s Antithesis™ firearm line consistent with the National Firearms Act (NFA) and Gun Control Act (GCA).

The complaint centers around the multi-year delay by ATF to develop the mechanisms necessary for Federal Firearm Licensees (FFLs) to sell and transfer Franklin Armory’s Reformation, which the agency considers to be a firearm subject to GCA but not subject to NFA. In one of its letters to Franklin Armory, ATF acknowledged that its classification created “a gap in the federal firearm regulations,” which the agency would need to promptly rectify. As of this case’s filing date, it has been more than 1,500 days since ATF classified Reformation as a non-NFA firearm without implementing the requisite procedures. Read more

DAYTON, NV – Polymer80 Family,

As you may have seen or heard, on Tuesday ATF published an open letter to FFLs declaring that certain Polymer80 blanks are considered “Firearms” under their latest – and unprecedented – interpretation of Final Rule 2021R-0F5. I wanted to personally address this with all of you, our loyal customers, many of whom have been with us since we started in a rundown old maintenance shop on Callen Street in Vacaville, CA.

Over the past several years, Polymer80 has shouldered a considerable amount of legal expenses fighting egregious, unwarranted, and naked assaults on us, our products, and the natural and inalienable rights embedded in the Second Amendment and enshrined in our history.

I want to make three things VERY clear.

1. 1. Polymer80 is not – and I am not – taking the bait. While Polymer80 vehemently disagrees with the open letter, we will take appropriate steps to ensure we continue to remain in compliance with applicable laws or regulations.
   2. In addition to continuing to produce quality products and innovate, we are also modifying existing product lines taking into careful consideration – as best we can given ATF’s constantly changing interpretations of its own rules – ATF’s various positions, statements, and guidance, as well as the Final Rule and challenges to it across the country.
   3. Finally, we are going to fight, as vigorously and fervently as ever, using every resource available to us in the legal system, against the open letter and reclaim our rights.

Read more