SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – Attorney General Sean D. Reyes joined 26 attorneys general in an amicus brief in Garland v. VanDerStok at the Supreme Court of the United States. The brief, which was led by the States of West Virginia and Montana, supports the Second Amendment rights of Americans in the face of increasing oppression from a federal agency.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) published a final rule in 2022, entitled Definition of “Frame or Receiver” and Identification of Firearms, seeking to update and intensify its regulations for privately made firearms, purportedly under the Gun Control Act of 1968. As with prior rules, the ATF’s actions indicate that its unelected bureaucrats believe the ends justify the means, and the U.S. Constitution and the will of the U.S. Congress can be discarded in the process. The rule was challenged and vacated by the district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The U.S. Supreme Court granted ATF’s petition for a writ of certiorari and scheduled oral arguments for October.
In the attorneys general brief, they explain that “ATF has a history of pushing the limits and it’s doing so again,” and that “policy concerns can’t trump statutory text.” The history that the States point to are recently unconstitutional rules from the ATF for bump stocks, stabilizing braces, firearms dealing, and now this new regulation.
As the States write, “Some might suggest that ATF’s limits-testing approach is justified because of the stakes. And certainly, in the wrong hands, firearms can be dangerous. But short of constitutional constraints, Congress is the body that gets to decide how to address any risks that might arise from a particular product. Neither the ATF nor this Court can impose naked policy preferences, especially so on hot-button issues like these.”
Joining Utah, West Virginia, and Montana were the States of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wyoming.
