ThinkingAfield.org

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

The U.S. District Court in North Dakota issued its opinion in the Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition (“FRAC”)-Franklin Armory firearms classification-related lawsuit against ATF. In his ruling, Judge Daniel M. Traynor vacated the ATF’s prior misclassifications of Franklin Armory’s Reformation and Antithesis firearms. Judge Traynor’s ruling solidifies what the firearms industry has known for years—that the ATF has been abusing its firearms technology classification powers.

Per the Court’s opinion:

Franklin Armory presented a square peg, and ATF shoved it into a round hole. If Congress wanted “shotgun” to be a catch-all category for anything that doesn’t fit “rifle,” it could have done so. . . . . It is not for ATF to redefine the terms because it thinks Congress didn’t intend a certain outcome. Therefore, ATF exceeded its authority in defining “smoothbore” as anything lacking “functional rifling.” Read more

Gun Owners of America (GOA) and Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), together with several individual gun owners, are pleased to announce that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has granted our petition for allowance of appeal. This means that the Pennsylvania high court will now hear our challenge to the City of Philadelphia’s unconstitutional ban on the private manufacture of firearms.

GOA’s lawsuit challenges Philadelphia’s ordinance that restricts the manufacturing of firearms, components, and attachments for personal use. We argue that the ban violates Pennsylvania’s preemption statute, the Uniform Firearms Act (UFA), along with infringing Article I, Section 21 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, which guarantees the right to bear arms.

Philadelphia’s ordinance, which prohibits the private manufacturing of firearms through processes like 3D printing or completing unfinished firearm frames, directly contradicts state law, which preempts all local firearm regulations. GOA’s petition argued that the Philly ordinance infringes upon the constitutional right to self-defense and violates the UFA, which gives the General Assembly exclusive power to regulate firearms. Read more