While most gun owners likely view the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) rulemaking as an overreach into creating laws rather than enforcing them—the agency’s primary role—some district attorneys from blue states have come together to support a few of these overreaches.
According to an ABC News report, 17 state attorneys general, led by Democrat New Jersey AG Matt Platkin, announced on January 16 their intention to defend ATF final rules that redefine forced reset triggers as machine guns and also redefined who is “engaged in the business” of selling guns, despite President Trump taking office soon.
“The incoming administration has threatened these common-sense protections, so states are stepping in,” Platkin said in a statement.
Certainly, what one person views as common sense might be seen by another as an infringement on the right to keep and bear arms. Both of these final rules are considered direct infringements, as some courts have already determined.
In August, a U.S. District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction that blocks the enforcement of the final rule against several groups, including the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR), its members, Texas Gun Rights (TGR) and its members and Rare Breed Triggers and its customers.
District Judge Reed O’Connor wrote in that ruling: “Plaintiffs contend that the ATF’s regulation broadening the machinegun definition is an arbitrary and capricious expansion of the agency’s authority. Plaintiffs are likely correct. Accordingly, the Court concludes that Plaintiffs have carried their burden at this stage to show that the expanded definition of machinegun likely exceeds the scope of ATF’s statutory authority. Therefore, Plaintiffs have satisfied ‘arguably the most important’ of the four factors [justifying a preliminary injunction].”
The case is now being considered by a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The ATF’s final rule on “engaged in the business” has also struggled in court. In May 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted a temporary restraining order against enforcing the Final Rule on the individual plaintiff involved in the case, Texas citizens, as well as members of Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, the Tennessee Firearms Association and the Virginia Citizens Defense League.
Interestingly, blue state AGs had already expressed their opposition to the “engaged in the business” rule, with 26 Republican AGs filing lawsuits to challenge the rule last year.
“Congress has never passed into law the ATF’s dramatic new expansion of firearms dealer license requirements, and President Biden cannot unilaterally impose them,” Arkansas AG Tim Griffin said at the time. “This lawsuit is just the latest instance of my colleagues in other states and me having to remind the President that he must follow the law.”
It will be interesting to see if the ATF under President Trump swiftly reverses some of the “final rules” imposed on Americans by Biden’s weaponized ATF, as many gun-rights advocates hope will occur.
Other AGs joining New Jersey’s Platkin in announcing they would defend the final rules include those from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
