Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 20, 2021) — Today, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) was made aware of an apparently leaked ATF document, captioned “Definition of ‘Frame or Receiver’ and Identification of Firearms,” detailing the Biden administration’s first set of plans to further regulate firearms. After an initial review, FPC Law determined that the proposed new regulations contained in the document would give the ATF new and expansive powers to attack the right to keep and bear arms, particularly the right to self-build arms for lawful purposes. A copy of the document can be found at FPCLaw.org and at The Reload, a new publication founded by prominent firearms journalist Stephen Gutowski.
The FPC Law team is currently conducting an in-depth analysis of the document’s contents for both regulatory and pre-litigation purposes. The apparent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking primarily details how the ATF intends to change the definition of a “frame or receiver” to now also include, among other things, any “unfinished component” that “may readily be converted” into a firearm receiver. Moreover, under the document’s proposed rule, any number of parts, components, and accessories could be legally classified by the ATF as “firearms.”
FPC strongly condemns the ATF’s apparent draft rule and is committed to mounting an aggressive regulatory and legal response should the Biden Administration move forward with this apparent proposed rulemaking, which would egregiously and irrationally expand federal powers, add burden on gun owners, and unconstitutionally restrict the peaceful exercise of fundamental rights. As was the case when the Trump Administration’s Department of Justiceentered into rulemaking to declare that bumpstocks were machine guns, FPC will use every available resource to defend the People’s human right to keep and bear arms. We stand ready to defend the People and human liberty in the rulemaking process and beyond.
Further information and analysis will be made available at FPCLaw.org.
https://www.firearmspolicy.org/fpc-condemns-leaked-biden-atf-gun-control-plan