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A coalition of 17 states filed a lawsuit Wednesday against President Joe Biden’s administration, accusing it of restricting the constitutional right to own firearms, said Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s office.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Dakota, is supported by gun manufacturers and gun owners associations, and names the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and the Department of Justice as defendants.
The plaintiffs call unconstitutional an ATF rule that regulates unfinished, not-yet-functional parts of guns on the same basis as if they were complete firearms.
“The rulemaking seeks to, among other things, regulate unfinished, non-functional parts as if they were complete firearms. This threatens the American tradition of private firearms manufacturing that predates the Revolution,” said a statement from Brnovich’s office, referring to the independence revolution.
The lawsuit contends that the ATF rules are a step toward the illegal creation of a national firearms’ registry that will require all firearms retailers to keep records of all sales beyond the 20 years now required.
These rules, according to the release, would also require gun dealers past 20 years to turn over documentation to ATF, and this threatens the privacy of every gun owner in the country.
Brnovich said the legal action, contained in a 168-page document, is part of his efforts to protect the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
That amendment provides that a well-organized militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
