fai 15 antithesis

Franklin Armory, FRAC Sue ATF Alleging Regulatory Delays

By Dave Workman

Editor-in-Chief

Franklin Armory, Inc., and the Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition, Inc. (FARC), have filed suit in federal district court against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, ATF Director Steve Dettelbach and Attorney General Merrick Garland, alleging “two instances of regulatory gamesmanship…designed to evade Congress’s scheme to regulate firearms in the United States.”

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota, Western Division. Franklin Armory is based in Minden, Nevada while FARC is based in Bismarck, N.D. They are represented by attorney Wiley Rein of Washington, D.C.

FRAC is described a non-profit association “working to improve business conditions for the firearms industry by ensuring the industry receives fair and consistent treatment from firearms regulatory agencies.”

According to the court document, the plaintiffs assert the ATF wrongfully classified Franklin Armory’s FAI-15 Antithesis model as a “short-barreled rifle (SBR)” under both the Gun Control Act and the National Firearms Act even though it is chambered to fire both .410 shotshells and .45 Colt cartridges. It has a rifled barrel.

The complaint also alleges ATF failed “to promulgate a statutorily-required process— after expressly stating in a public letter that it would do so—for parties to seek authorization to sell, deliver, and transport across state lines weapons classified as short-barreled shotguns under the GCA. According to the lawsuit, “In 2017, Plaintiff Franklin designed a new type of weapon called the ‘Reformation.’ The Reformation is unique because it fires proprietary ammunition as well as traditional rifle cartridges through a barrel with straight cut lands and grooves.

“In 2019, 16 months after Franklin submitted the firearm for classification,” the complaint continues, “ATF classified the Reformation as a ‘short-barreled shotgun’ under the GCA. Due to its unique design, however, ATF correctly determined that the Reformation is not a short-barreled shotgun (a “firearm”) under the NFA which, unlike the GCA, provides that a ‘shotgun’ is a weapon that fires only ‘a fixed shotgun shell,’ 26 U.S.C. § 5845(d), not fixed metallic cartridges with a single projectile.

“Under the GCA,” the lawsuit says, “federal firearms licensees—such as Franklin—must receive authorization from ATF before they sell or deliver certain GCA weapons, including short-barreled shotguns, to non-licensees. Non-licensees comprise the vast majority of customers.

“ATF’s existing regulations do not provide a mechanism for seeking this required authorization. Because a ‘short-barreled shotgun’ under the GCA would typically also be a regulated ‘firearm’ under the NFA, ATF’s established process for seeking the required authorization is designed to encompass only weapons that are classified as short-barreled shotguns under both the GCA and the NFA.

“ATF has expressly identified this problem,” the lawsuit alleges. “In 2019—shortly after ATF classified the Reformation—ATF represented to both Franklin, and to the public in an open letter, that the agency was creating new forms and procedures to close this regulatory gap and permit federal firearms licensees to seek the statutorily required authorization from ATF to sell a GCA-only short-barreled rifle.

“But to date,” the plaintiffs contend, “1,513 days after classifying the Reformation, ATF has not issued any such forms or procedures and does not appear to have made any progress on its commitment to carry out the statutory duty it identified.”

According to Ammoland News , “The plaintiffs claim that the ATF violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and has asked the North Dakota Federal District Court for relief. FRAC and Franklin Armory want the court to set aside and declare the ATF’s classification of the FAI-15 Antithesis unlawful. They want the ATF to issue a classification consistent with statutory requirements and the evidence before the agency within thirty days.”

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Franklin Armory and FRAC Sue the ATF for APA Violations :: 01/05/2023

BISMARCK, N.D. -(Ammoland.com)- Franklin Armory and the Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition, Inc. (FRAC) have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) over what the plaintiffs allege are wrongful classification of firearms and regulatory delays.

The plaintiffs’ first claim in Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition, Inc., et al. v. Merrick B. Garland, et al. is that the ATF wrongfully classified Franklin Armory’s FAI-15 Antithesis as a short-barreled rifle (SBR). The Antithesis is an AR-15-like firearm with a rifled barrel capable of firing both .410 shotshells and .45 Long Colt rounds. The ATF classified the firearm as an SBR under the Gun Control Act (GCA) and the National Firearms Act (NFA). The plaintiffs claim that the gun doesn’t meet the ATF definition of an SBR under the GCA or the NFA.

Under both the NFA and the GCA, the ATF considers a firearm as a rifle only if it is “designed . . . and intended . . . to fire only a single projectile.” The plaintiffs argued that since the gun fires .410 shotgun shotshells, it cannot be considered a rifle since the shell consists of multiple projectiles. The firearm also does not meet the definition of a short-barreled shotgun (SBS) under the NFA because the barrel is rifled.

Franklin Armory and FRAC claim that the ATF’s classification was arbitrary and capricious. They claim that the ATF abused its discretion by acting outside the letter of the law.

The plaintiffs’ second claim deals with delays in the ATF for creating a statutorily required process for manufacturers and federal firearms licensees (FFL) to seek authorization to sell, deliver, and transport SBSs under the GCA across state lines. There currently isn’t a process in place for firearms that are considered SBSs under the GCA but are not considered SBSs under the NFA.

The need for a process stems from the introduction of the Franklin Armory Reformation in 2017. The Reformation consisted of a barrel with lands and grooves, which means that it is classified as an SBS under the GCA, but since it fired a traditional rifle round as well as a proprietary cartridge instead of a shotgun shell, it is not considered an SBS under the NFA. In 2019 the ATF informed Franklin Armory and the public through an open letter that it would develop a process for companies to get permission to transfer these firearms to non-licensees.

Franklin Armory claims that the delay has caused the company significant financial harm. According to the plaintiffs, the ATF hasn’t seemed to have made any progress in developing the process it promised to create and deploy. The ATF also hasn’t given any reason for the nearly four-year delay. The plaintiffs’ lawyers also point out the indisputable fact that the American public has been deprived of the opportunity to buy the Reformation.

“The ATF’s classification of Antithesis overlooks the plain and clear language of the statute in favor of their own politically motivated interpretation, and its extraordinary delay in creating the procedures and forms necessary for the Reformation series of firearms to be sold in the marketplace has caused Franklin Armory significant financial harm,” said Franklin Armory President Jay Jacobson. “We have spent years attempting to resolve this matter without litigation. This lawsuit rightfully challenges the ATF’s egregious inaction and overreach, and seeks to ensure that not only Franklin Armory, but all industry members are treated fairly, accurately, and in accordance with the laws enacted by Congress.”

The plaintiffs claim that the ATF violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and has asked the North Dakota Federal District Court for relief. FRAC and Franklin Armory want the court to set aside and declare the ATF’s classification of the FAI-15 Antithesis unlawful. They want the ATF to issue a classification consistent with statutory requirements and the evidence before the agency within thirty days. They also want the court to order the ATF to “[i]ssue procedures authorizing the sale, delivery, and interstate transportation of weapons classified as short-barreled shotguns under only the GCA” within thirty days.

Washington D.C. legal powerhouse Wiley Rein, LLC , represents Franklin Armory and FRAC.

About John Crump

John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss , or at Crumpy.com .

https://www.ammoland.com/2023/01/franklin-armory-and-frac-sue-the-atf-for-apa-violations/#axzz7pXCU3QAP

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