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July 25, 2024
Federal Court in Texas strikes down ATF's "Force Reset Trigger" regulation as unlawful.
On July 23, 2024, Federal District Judge Reed O’Connor of the United
States District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted summary
judgment against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives and struck down the ATF’s rule that classified “force reset
triggers” (“FRT”) as devices that covert semi-automatic firearms into
machineguns. See, National Association of Gun Rights, Inc., et al., v. Merrick Garland, et al. Northern District of Texas, 4:23-cv-00830-O ( opinion).
The Court noted that in 2018 the ATF attempted to broaden the
statutory definition of a machinegun by adopted a regulation by adding
to the regulatory definition the following: “For purposes of this
definition, the term “automatically” as it modifies “shoots, is designed
to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot,” means functioning as
the result of a self-acting or self-regulating mechanism that allows the
firing of multiple rounds through a single function of the trigger;
and “single function of the trigger” means a single pull of the trigger
and analogous motions. The term “machine gun” includes a bump-stock-type
device, i.e., a device that allows a semi-automatic firearm to shoot
more than one shot with a single pull of the trigger by harnessing the
recoil energy of the semi-automatic firearm to which it is affixed so
that the trigger resets and continues firing without additional physical
manipulation of the trigger by the shooter.” See, 27 C.F.R§ 479.11
(2018). By 2021, the ATF was applying this expanded definition to
classified devices, like FRTs, to declare such devices, if made after
May 1986, as machineguns and prohibited from civilian possession.
In addressing the legal issues before it, the Court relied specifically on the United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in Garland v. Cargill, 602 U.S. 406 (2024). In Cargill,
the Supreme Court struck down the ATF’s rule that classified bumpstocks
as devices that converted semi-automatic firearms to machineguns. In
doing so, Judge O’Connor concluded:
Because the Cargill decisions from the en banc Fifth Circuit and the
Supreme Court are squarely dispositive of the issue in this case, the
Court concludes that ATF’s regulation is not in accord with the
statutory definition of “machinegun.” By redefining the statutory
definition, the ATF exceeded the scope of its authority. Upon
determining that an agency’s action is unlawful, that “agency action
must be set aside if the action was ‘arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of
discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law’ or if the action
failed to meet statutory, procedural, or constitutional requirements.” Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, 401 U.S. at 413–14 (1971) (citing 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A)–(D)).
NAGR v. Garland , pp. 47-48.
The Court issued a detailed set of orders in its conclusion to which
reference to the Opinion itself should be made. Key parts of the
holding include i) vacating the ATF’s unlawful classification of FRTs as
machineguns and ii) declaring unlawful ATF’s determination that FRTs
are machineguns. There are other provisions of the Court’s order that
only apply to the parties, including the organizational parties and
their members (National Association of Gun Rights and Texas Gun Rights,
Inc.). As we have reported in other instances, it is now a necessity that we as citizens must resort to the courts, state and federal, to strike down or limit statutes, regulations and executive orders because our state and federal elected legislators have and continue repeatedly to fail us under their oaths to defend and protect our constitutional rights. Indeed, in many instances, such as some of the laws that passed (and failed to pass) in Tennessee in the last 14 years, it is actually the legislatures that are the problem rather than the solution when it comes to fully restoring our constitutional rights. You can help in the necessity of bringing more of these types of cases to the courts by joining the Tennessee Firearms Association, by making supplemental member donations to the TFA and/or by making tax deductible donations to the Tennessee Firearms Foundation which dedicates some of its funds to public interest litigation.
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Tennessee Firearms Association Legislative Action Committee Annual Event
The TFALAC Annual Event is Saturday September 7, 2024. It will be held at the Farm Bureau Expo Center in Wilson County.
This year's keynote speaker is Pete Hegseth of Fox News who is also now a Tennessean. Other speakers include Congressman Mark Green and Erich Pratt, Sr., Vice President of Gun Owners of America.
Tickets and tables are available for a limited time with "early bird" pricing.
Sponsorships and vendor opportunities are also available now and since these are limited are first come, first serve.
Net proceeds from the TFALAC Annual Event are used to support pro-2nd Amendment candidates for the Tennessee Legislature (which sometimes means we are supporting primary challengers to incumbents who are not working to honor their oaths to protect our rights).
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