VanDerStok v. Garland - Biden's 'ghost gun' limits unlawful

[searcher]

Nov 9 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled that the Biden administration lacked authority to adopt a regulation aimed at reining in privately made firearms called "ghost guns" that are difficult for law enforcement to trace.

A three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a group of firearm owners, gun rights groups and manufacturers in declaring the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' 2022 rule "unlawful."

US appeals court calls Biden's 'ghost gun' limits unlawful

A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled that the Biden administration lacked authority to adopt a regulation aimed at reining in privately made firearms called "ghost guns" that are difficult for law enforcement to trace.

www.reuters.com

Decision:

https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/byprranxype/11092023ghostguns.pdf

 

[pmbug]

BATF overstepped it's bounds? Say it ain't so!

 

[pmbug]

...
"The Final Rule is limitless," wrote concurring Judge Andrew S. Oldham who agreed with the majority "without qualification" but wrote separately because he considered his colleagues insufficiently brutal to the ATF. "It purports to regulate any piece of metal or plastic that has been machined beyond its primordial state for fear that it might one day be turned into a gun, a gun frame, or a gun receiver. And it doesn't stop regulating the metal or plastic until it's melted back down to ooze."

That was much the reaction of U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor who vacated the entire ATF rule in June. The appeals court panel upholds the district court's findings, though it returns the case to the district "for further consideration of the remedy, considering this Court's holding on the merits." That might mean an outcome short of vacating the entirety of the rule, though Oldham's concurrence suggests he prefers something rather more drastic to slap down the ATF for its presumption.
...
Despite the Fifth Circuit decision, the ATF rule remains in effect while the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether to take up the case, as per an August 8 order by Justice Samuel Alito.
...

Gun hobbyists (and liberty) win big in court

Fifth Circuit judges slap the ATF for making up illegal rules against homemade guns.

reason.com

 

[Joe King]

This should be in the good news thread.