NEW ORLEANS (November 7, 2024) – Today, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) and FPC Action Foundation (FPCAF) announced the filing of their brief with the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Mock v. Garland, their lawsuit challenging the ATF’s Pistol Brace Rule. The brief defends the Organizations’ victory at the district court and asks the Fifth Circuit to uphold that victory. The brief and other case documents, including the district court’s final judgment vacating the rule, can be viewed at firearmspolicy.org/mock.
“The district court correctly held that the Final Rule is arbitrary and capricious because the Agencies reversed a longstanding position without meaningful explanation and drafted a rule with vague standards,” argues the brief. “The Final Rule also violates the Second Amendment because it lacks sufficient historical support to survive the test set forth in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. And by legislating where Congress chose not to, the Agencies defied the Constitution’s structural protections set forth in the Take Care Clause and articulated in the Delegation Doctrine.”
“We are proud to defend American gun owners in this important appeal. The ATF’s pistol brace ban is clearly unlawful and the government continues to lose this case, yet the Biden-Harris administration refuses to end its assault on you and your rights. The Fifth Circuit should affirm the district court’s judgment and stop this insane government overreach without delay,” said FPC President Brandon Combs. “As we’ve done in other cases, we will take this case to the Supreme Court if needed to end the government’s immoral enforcement of an unconstitutional regulation.”
“ATF’s efforts to turn millions of peaceable people into felons with the stroke of a pen is not only unlawful and unconstitutional, but a perversion of our system of limited government,” said FPCAF President Cody J. Wisniewski, an attorney for the challengers. “The Fifth Circuit has already determined that ATF’s Rule was unlawfully promulgated and we look forward to the Circuit doing the same on the merits.”
The Mock case is part of FPC’s high-impact strategic litigation program, FPC Law, aimed at eliminating immoral laws and creating a world of maximal liberty. FPC is joined in this case by two individual FPC members as well as Maxim Defense Industries, LLC. FPC Action Foundation is counsel of record for the Plaintiffs, alongside Benbrook Law Group, P.C. and Cooper & Scully, P.C.
Firearms Policy Coalition (firearmspolicy.org), a 501(c)4 nonprofit membership organization, exists to create a world of maximal human liberty, defend constitutional rights, advance individual liberty, and restore freedom. We work to achieve our strategic objectives through litigation, research, scholarly publications, amicus briefing, legislative and regulatory action, grassroots activism, education, outreach, and other programs. Our FPC Law program (FPCLaw.org) is the nation’s preeminent legal action initiative focused on restoring the right to keep and bear arms throughout the United States. Individuals who want to support FPC’s work to eliminate unconstitutional laws can join the FPC Grassroots Army at JoinFPC.org or make a donation at firearmspolicy.org/donate. For more on FPC’s lawsuits and other pro-Second Amendment initiatives, visit FPCLegal.org and follow FPC on Instagram, X (Twitter), Facebook, and YouTube.
FPC Action Foundation (FPCActionFoundation.org), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, exists to create a world of maximal human liberty through charitable legal action, public policy, education, and research programs. Individuals who want to support this and other cases can make a tax-deductible donation to the FPC Action Foundation here.
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