The Second Amendment Foundation just fired another legal broadside at the ATF's notorious frame-and-receiver rule, and this time they're asking the court to shut it down for good.
If you haven't been following this saga, here's the gist: Back in 2022, the ATF pulled a fast one and re-defined what a "firearm" is to include random chunks of metal that aren't even functional guns yet. We're talking about80% finished receivers and similar parts that, in their current state, literally cannot fire a single round. But under the Biden rule, these non-firearm objects got lumped into the same category as fully operational guns.
That'd be laughable if it wasn't so dangerous. As SAF Senior Director Bill Sack put it, this rule was one of the Biden administration's sneakiest attacks on our right to keep and bear arms. Self-manufacturing firearms for personal use is as American as apple pie, and it's been legal under federal law forever. But this regulation was designed to make the whole process so legally murky that regular folks would give up rather than risk running afoul of the ATF.
The Fifth Circuit already kicked significant portions of the rule to the curb, but the Supreme Court only dealt with part of the case. Now SAF and Defense Distributed are pushing forward on the remaining claims, asking for summary judgment in Defense Distributed v. Blanche.
We'd love to see the current administration do the right thing and rescind this mess preemptively. But if they won't, SAF is ready to dragged ATF's illegal overreach back into court. The rule has serious legal problems that need to be addressed—and we intend to address them.
This case matters to every gun owner, every 80% builder, and every FFL who just wants to run their business without jumping through arbitrary government hoops. Stay tuned.