West Virginia and Montana led 27 states Wednesday that filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court urging the court to “rein in” the Biden administration’s new frame or receiver rule.
The states, through their attorneys general, alleged the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ new rule essentially broadening the definition of “firearm” to include gun parts (like frames and receivers) is an “overreach.”
“[W]hen the Court encounters another ATF regulation offering a purportedly creative solution to a long-standing problem, it should be wary,” the filing states. The rule has also been characterized as a “ghost gun” crackdown.
“And in this brief, Amici (party) States describe some of the specific machinations ATF has used in the past to get to its desired results — erasing ordinary meaning, stripping words from context, ignoring comments, short-circuiting APA requirements, and blinding itself to the real-world consequences of its own actions.”
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ATF agents continue their investigation at a FedEx site after an explosion March 20, 2018, in Schertz, Texas. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
After filing the brief, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said states must step up when the feds politicize regulations.
“When the Biden administration continues deploying our federal agencies to further its political agenda, rest assured the states will spring into action to prevent this kind of abhorrent overreach,” he said.
“Here again is an example of how the Biden administration uses bureaucratic agencies, this time the ATF, to act as legislators instead of enforcing the laws Congress passed.”
In the brief, Morrisey, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen and the other litigants admit that guns in the wrong hands can be dangerous, but Congress is the body that should decide policy and address risks from a particular product.
“Neither the ATF nor this court can impose naked policy…
