The U.S. District Court in North Dakota today issued its opinion in the Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition (“FRAC”)-Franklin Armory firearms classification-related lawsuit against ATF. In his ruling, Judge Daniel M. Traynor vacated the ATF’s prior misclassifications of Franklin Armory’s Reformation and Antithesis firearms. Judge Traynor’s ruling solidifies what the firearms industry has known for years—that the ATF has been abusing its firearms technology classification powers.
Per the Court’s opinion:
Franklin Armory presented a square peg, and ATF shoved it into a round hole. If Congress wanted “shotgun” to be a catch-all category for anything that doesn’t fit “rifle,” it could have done so. . . . . It is not for ATF to redefine the terms because it thinks Congress didn’t intend a certain outcome. Therefore, ATF exceeded its authority in defining “smoothbore” as anything lacking “functional rifling.”
FRAC and Franklin Armory are reviewing the Court’s ruling and seeking further guidance from legal counsel as to the future of both Reformation and Antithesis under the law. Judge Traynor’s opinion declares that the “ATF classification of the Antithesis and reclassification of the Reformation [are] VACATED.” In response to ATF’s arguments, Judge Traynor retorted that “Administrative agencies need to remember they are in the executive branch and leave legislating to Congress.”
FRAC President & CEO, Travis White, stated that “the ATF has egregiously abused the firearms technology classification process, and this is a landmark ruling in reining in such abuses.”
Franklin Armory President Jay Jacobson said, “we spent years trying to reason with ATF leadership as they failed to classify firearms correctly. We hope that future agency leaders will stick to the law as passed by Congress. All we ever wanted was a good referee, not someone to throw the game.”
Judge Traynor’s summary judgment ruling in FRAC v. Garland, No. 1:23-cv-00003, can be found here.
ATF: “But..but…our words mean….”
Judge: “Squat! Now shut up and go away.”
You can thank President Trump for this and several other court rulings in support of 2A issues. If not for his appointments to the Supreme Court the overturning of Chevron Deference would not have occurred. Which rendered the Alphabet toothless in their ability to impose regulations and redefine existing laws without Congress first passing the necessary legislation and having it signed into law by a President.
is there a fluted projectile like a rifled slug?
The Reformation use straight groves, no spiral, so there’s no spin imparted to the .300BLK bullet. IIRC the bullet will eventually tumble and keyhole the target but it’s supposed to be self-defense accurate enough out to a certain distance. Franklin had pictures of a weird bullet with fins that kind of looked like a Nerf throwing toy that they say will work at longer ranges.
The Antithesis is sort of their take on the shorty shotguns that are classified as “firearms” like the Mossberg Shockwave but using a semi-auto AR pattern – it uses either .410 shells or .45 Colt rounds.
Wish them all much luck in selling all of the above. Need to get sbr/sbs normalized and off the registry.
Are they in common use yet, is that a thing. Will everyone who’s paid the tax be angry or happy if that becomes a thing?
No
Sorta kinda but diminishing returns
Not relevant
Better yet declare the registry constitutionally prohibited and delete all info the feds have.
clamp the barrel and twist the stock…