Court Declares ATF’s Expanded Firearm Definitions Unconstitutional Under Second Amendment

In an August 17 ruling, Judge Reed O'Connor of the Northern District of Texas found the ATF’s 2022 Final Rule expanding the definitions of “firearm” and “frame or receiver” unconstitutional under the Second Amendment and the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process clause. The court criticized the rule’s vague phrasing, particularly the use of “readily,” which leaves the determination of what counts as a firearm to the agency’s subjective judgment.

It noted the lack of historical analogues for regulating gun parts, contrasting early American encouragement of self-manufacture with the modern goal of crime control. The injunction bars enforcement of the rule against Defense Distributed, the Second Amendment Foundation, and their members concerning specific 80% frames and build kits. This judgment comes after the Supreme Court declined to review an APA challenge to the rule in Bondi v. VanDerStok, and it may spur further litigation over federal gun-part regulations.