Court reverses lower court, renders judgment for FPC, and holds federal handgun purchase restrictions unconstitutional under the Second Amendment
NEW ORLEANS (September 18, 2026) — Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced today a major victory in Elite Precision Customs v. ATF, with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit holding that the federal government’s ban on direct interstate handgun purchases violates the Second Amendment. The Court reversed the lower court’s dismissal of the case and rendered judgment for FPC and its co-plaintiffs.
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The federal laws challenged by FPC categorically prohibit people from directly purchasing handguns from licensed dealers outside their state of residence. While federal law provides exceptions for interstate rifle and shotgun purchases, handgun buyers are instead forced to arrange an additional transfer through a licensed dealer in their home state—a process that depends on another dealer agreeing to participate and typically imposes additional fees and delays.
The Fifth Circuit’s conclusion was unequivocal: “The Ban sullies the plain text of the Second Amendment and is inconsistent with the nation’s tradition of firearms regulation.” The Court reversed the district court and rendered judgment for FPC and the other plaintiffs.
“This is a massive victory for the People and another major defeat for the federal government’s unconstitutional gun-control regime. Your right to keep and bear arms does not stop at your state line, and the government cannot make you pay a penalty just to exercise it. The Fifth Circuit got it exactly right: this is a purchase ban, it is presumptively unconstitutional, and the government failed to justify it. We told the federal government we were coming for this ban, and today we beat them,” said FPC President Brandon Combs.
The Fifth Circuit rejected the government’s argument that the federal scheme merely regulates the commercial sale of firearms. Relying in part on FPC’s landmark victory in Reese v. ATF, the Court held that the constitutional right to keep firearms necessarily includes the right to purchase them. And because the federal laws categorically prohibit an entire class of otherwise lawful handgun purchases, they implicate the Second Amendment’s plain text and are presumptively unconstitutional.
The Court also rejected the government’s argument that the availability of a FFL-to-FFL transfer process saves the ban. As the opinion explains, there is no amount of time someone can wait before becoming legally permitted to make the prohibited direct purchase—the transaction itself remains completely forbidden. And the Fifth Circuit specifically expressed concern about forcing people to pay additional fees to exercise a fundamental constitutional right.
The government’s historical arguments fared no better. It offered a number of historical laws involving subjects ranging from wartime arms restrictions and trade with Native American tribes to gunpowder inspection and early consumer-protection regulations. The Fifth Circuit concluded that those laws fell into fundamentally different historical categories and did not justify a modern peacetime prohibition on interstate handgun purchases by peaceable people.
The ruling also creates a direct conflict between federal appeals courts—a “circuit split.” In rejecting the Second Circuit’s contrary decision upholding the same federal ban, the Fifth Circuit said plainly: “We reject the Second Circuit’s approach,” concluding that its analysis stretched the historical record “far beyond what it can actually bear.”
The decision also builds directly on FPC’s broader strategic litigation campaign. In Reese, the Fifth Circuit held that the right to keep and bear arms necessarily includes the right to purchase them. Here, the Court relied on that precedent, along with the Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Wolford and Hemani, to reject the federal government’s effort to evade the Constitution through a purchase restriction and an expansive reading of unrelated historical laws.
“This is what it looks like to Fight Forward. This is how we win—case by case, precedent by precedent, taking away the government’s tools for violating the People’s rights. We and our FPC Grassroots Army will keep stacking victories until every one of these immoral and unconstitutional restrictions is eliminated,” Combs concluded.
FPC is joined in the case by Elite Precision Customs LLC and FPC members Tim Herron and Freddie Blish. Case filings and additional information about Elite Precision Customs v. ATF can be viewed at firearmspolicy.org/eliteprecision.
The plaintiffs are represented by David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson, and William V. Bergstrom of Cooper & Kirk, PLLC, Cody J. Wisniewski of FPC Action Foundation, and R. Brent Cooper of Cooper & Scully, P.C.
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About Firearms Policy Coalition
Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) is a nonprofit membership organization that exists to create a world of maximal individual liberty and eliminate unconstitutional gun control laws. FPC works—and wins—for the People through high-impact strategic litigation, groundbreaking research, legislative and regulatory advocacy, grassroots activism, education, and public engagement. FPC’s legal division, FPC Law, is the nation’s leading initiative dedicated to restoring the right to keep and bear arms across the United States. To learn more about how FPC is working—and winning—for the People, sign up for FPC news alerts at firearmspolicy.org and follow FPC on X, Instagram, and Facebook.
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