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SB 318 maliciously targets responsible, law-abiding firearm retailers and manufacturers with frivolous litigation intended to bankrupt and destroy them. This legislation opens all firearm industry members to “fishing expeditions” under the Unfair Trade Practices Act (UTPA) initiated by politically-motivated advocacy organizations and attorneys. Punitive damage awards for a violation are increased from $300 to a minimum of $250,000 (an 83,000% increase), but only for firearm industry members. Other industries will see penalties increase from $300 to $10,000 (a 3,200% increase).

Provisions & Concerns Include:

• Proponents deceptively claim this legislation pursues firearm industry members who violate laws and who refuse to change heavily-regulated practices to somehow counter criminal conduct such as converting semiautomatic firearms to fully-automatic firearms. In truth, SB 318 will be used against all lawful firearm businesses that advertise in any manner in New Mexico because of the vague, subjective nature of the UTPA and dramatically increased potential winnings.

• Incredibly, a violation of the UTPA includes any advertisement or statement that “may” or “tends to” be misleading. An ad that simply states that a modern firearm is “safe” or “effective” for self-defense is likely to trigger a suit because opponents of firearm ownership regularly claim that firearms are neither safe nor effective. Currently, maximum awards under the UTPA are set between $100 and $300. The vague law has not been a problem to date because there has been no financial incentive to abuse it.

• Authorizes any citizen merely “aware of” a suspected violation of the UTPA to file an action against a member of the firearm industry (someone who has seen or heard an ad and disagrees with it). This is intended to allow advocacy groups like Giffords Law Center to encourage their members to pile on any claimed violation. In order to sue any other industry in the state, plaintiffs must show that they have been harmed in some manner.

• Removes any disincentive against filing frivolous claims. SB 318 effectively eliminates the possibility that defendants will be awarded court costs and attorney fees if they prevail.

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Attorneys representing the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners, in a case challenging the State of Minnesota’s prohibition on licensed concealed carry by young adults ages 18-20, have filed a response brief with the U.S. Supreme Court encouraging the justices to “grant plenary review and set the case for argument.”

The case is known as Jacobson v. Worth, originally filed in June 2021 as Worth v. Harrington. SAF is joined by the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, Firearms Policy Coalition, and three private citizens, Kristin Worth, for whom the case is named, Austin Dye, and Axel Anderson. While all three have turned 21, the Eighth Circuit Court granted a motion to supplement the record and allow another individual, Joe Knudsen, to carry the complaint. They are represented by attorneys David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson, John D. Ohlendorf and William V. Bergstrom at Cooper & Kirk in Washington, D.C.

SAF won this case at trial and at the appeals court level. Minnesota is appealing the ruling.

“Today’s filing is unique in that we are agreeing with Minnesota’s request in asking the Supreme Court to hear our case to resolve a dispute between the circuits,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “The lower courts are not unanimous in their approach to the Second Amendment rights of 18-20-year-olds. It is important that the Court weigh in to confirm that 18-20-year-olds are part of ‘the People’ and the Second Amendment applies in full to those individuals. The ban Minnesota seeks to uphold eviscerates the right of those adults to be able to carry a firearm for self-defense. This is patently unconstitutional and while we prevailed at the court of appeals, the Supreme Court needs to ensure all the lower courts reach the proper result. By taking this case, they can do just that.” Read more

NEW YORK – Today, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced that it filed its answering brief with the federal Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Christian v. James, an FPC Law case that challenges New York’s laws banning firearms on all publicly accessible private property without the express consent of the owner.

These accelerated appellate proceedings closely follow the Western District of New York’s judgment in favor of the FPC plaintiffs just two months ago in January. This brief can be viewed at firearmspolicy.org/boron.

New York’s ban “implicates the plain text of the Second Amendment by regulating where firearms may lawfully be carried. And it cannot be reconciled with the historic principles underlying the Second Amendment,” argues the brief. “This Court already has held that the State is unlikely to be able to justify the law historically. The Court should now hold that its prediction was correct.”

“We are committed to putting an end to this immoral and unconstitutional law, whatever it takes, and this brief is an important step to that end,” said FPC President Brandon Combs. “This outrageous regulatory scheme simply cannot pass constitutional muster and the Second Circuit should hold as much without delay.” Read more

Gun Owners of America (GOA) and Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), alongside the states of Texas, Louisiana, Utah and Mississippi have filed an opposition to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) motion to stay our ongoing lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The case, which seeks to block the Biden Administration’s unlawful “engaged in the business” rule, had already seen a victory at the lower court, where a judge granted a preliminary injunction in favor of the plaintiffs. But now, the DOJ is attempting to stall the case by asking for a stay, which could delay a resolution for an indefinite period of time.

In our response filed today, GOA and the Texas Attorney General’s office made it clear that the DOJ’s request to stay the case only serves to further entrench the issue in a “quagmire of administrative process and serial litigation.” As the case is now on the brink of resolution, the DOJ’s actions seek to prolong the legal uncertainty, making it harder for gun owners to defend their rights.

The DOJ’s request to stall this victory is not only baseless but also indicative of the entrenched anti-gun agenda within DOJ’s bureaucracy.

This legal battle is part of a larger fight to protect the Second Amendment rights of all Americans. GOA and the Texas Attorney General’s office are working tirelessly to ensure that the ATF’s overreach is held in check, demanding that the DOJ cease its efforts to derail the court from deciding our case. On the campaign trail, President Trump said: “Biden is trying to ban all private gun transfers in the United States with a stroke of a pen. Under a Trump administration, all of those Biden disasters get ripped up and torn out my first week.” Read more

On Saturday, February 22, the Virginia General Assembly adjourned sine die from its 2025 legislative session. Like last year, Democrats in both the Senate and House passed a plethora of antigun and anti-industry bills that, if signed, will negatively affect manufacturers, retailers and consumers. Governor Glenn Youngkin, like last year, has indicated that he will not sign bills that unjustly attack the industry and penalize individuals that choose to exercise their Second Amendment rights. Please contact Governor Youngkin’s office and let him know you appreciate him standing in support of the industry.

Industry Specific Bills passed this year include: Read more

“…shall not be infringed.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, urges the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to heed the call by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and 29 other U.S. Senators to quickly act on President Donald Trump’s Executive Order to review and roll back unconstitutional gun control regulations and rules that were levied on the firearm industry by the previous White House administration.

A letter, sent to Marvin G. Richardson, ATF Deputy Director, specifically called on the agency to formally end the “engaged-in-the-business” rule, the pistol-brace rule, the “ghost gun” rule and ATF’s “zero tolerance” policy that has forced small business firearm retailers to lose or surrender their licenses for minor clerical errors discovered during inspections.

“The previous administration wielded the ATF like a hammer and anvil against the firearm industry, turning the regulatory agency into one that punished and carried out a radical gun control agenda designed to diminish Second Amendment rights. President Donald Trump – along with Senator John Cornyn and these dozens of other senators – are righting the ship and returning ATF to its mandated role as a law enforcement agency focused on combatting violent crime and to act as a non-partisan regulator of the firearm industry,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “The rules specifically identified by the senators were designed to punish the firearm industry and usher in gun control outside of the legislative process. NSSF has protested these rules ever since they were announced and is heartened that the Trump administration and the Senate is acting quickly to protect Second Amendment rights and the lawful firearm industry. NSSF encourages ATF to act quickly on Senator Cornyn’s letter and enact these reforms to roll back unconstitutional overreaches brought by the Biden administration.”

In addition to urging the ATF to roll back the punishing and unconstitutional measures, the Senate letter urges ATF to “immediately destroy the hundreds of millions of ATF Form 4473 firearm transaction records and other licensee records that are over 20 years old. These records have no particular law enforcement value but do contain the sensitive information of millions of law-abiding gun owners.”

NSSF concurs with this request as those two-decade-old background check forms hold little value providing actionable law enforcement leads to solve crimes. This action would ensure gun owners’ privacy is protected and reduce administrative burdens to firearm trace requests. Prior to the Biden administration, federal firearm licenses were not required to retain these records after 20 years.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced the filing of a brief with the United States Supreme Court in the case of FCC v. Consumers’ Research, which is set to address the question of when and how Congress may delegate its authority to administrative agencies. The brief can be viewed at FPCLaw.org.

“Amici have a particular interest in this case for two reasons. Amici litigate cases in federal court around the country, and the question added by the Court concerning the availability of mootness exceptions is of great importance to Amici,” the brief explains, as “firearms cases frequently risk becoming moot, and the contours of the mootness doctrine are thus extremely important to Amici. Of even greater import to Amici is reigning in unconstitutional delegations of legislative power. Individual liberty, including the right to keep and bear arms, is routinely violated under the guise of broad delegations to administrative agencies.”

“The Supreme Court should affirm the Fifth Circuit’s ruling in this case and make clear that only Congress can make federal law,” said FPC President Brandon Combs. “Congress may not continue to unconstitutionally delegate its law-making power to federal agencies like the ATF to abuse peaceable gun owners throughout the United States.”

“This case presents the Supreme Court with an opportunity to correct course and restore the protections that are inherent in the Constitution through our Nation’s separation of powers,” said FPC Action Foundation President Cody J. Wisniewski. Read more