Washington — The Justice Department said Friday it will no longer enforce some provisions of a 1934 law passed by Congress to regulate the types of firearms often used by gangsters, after a federal judge declared large parts of the law unconstitutional.
New guidelines released by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have been released to current and future gun owners. The Justice Department decided last month that it would not appeal the judge’s decision.
Under the new guidelines, the federal government will no longer require individuals to seek and receive regulatory approval before manufacturing or transferring short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, suppressors, and other types of concealable firearms.
The Justice Department also said its new legal guidance does not supersede state and local laws that restrict the sale of these categories of weapons, adding that because many state laws still require people to register these firearms, it will continue to process these requests voluntarily.
CBS News exclusively reported last month that President Trump had ordered the Justice Department not to appeal a Texas court’s ruling that loosened limits on what were once called “gangster guns.”
The ruling impacted large portions of the National Firearms Act, which required that anyone wishing to sell, possess or manufacture a firearm or device covered by the law must submit a detailed written application to the ATF, among other requirements.
The law was intended to combat the more dangerous and easily concealable weapons that were often used by gangsters during the Prohibition era.
But in August, U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, a Trump appointee in the Northern District of Texas, ruled that most restrictions on all but two categories of specialty firearms regulated by the National Firearms Act were unconstitutional after Congress last year eliminated a $200 tax on them.
“Because the current NFA generates no revenue from untaxed firearms, its regulatory provisions cannot be enforced within the taxing power,” the judge wrote at the time.
The ruling follows two consolidated cases brought against the government by 15 red states and a number of Second Amendment gun rights groups and individuals, including the Gun Owners of America and the Gun Owners Foundation.
Many Justice Department lawyers recommended that the decision be appealed, saying it was already having a negative impact on pending criminal cases and went against the government’s duty to defend laws passed by Congress.
Although the court’s ruling blocking the ATF from enforcing large portions of the law applies only to the parties to the lawsuit, its wording has created challenges for prosecutors.
Indeed, the judge said his ruling would also extend to all “current or future” members of armed groups who sue for violating the rules. Basic membership in Gun Owners of America costs just $25.
Given that loophole, the ATF said Friday that going forward it will not enforce the provisions of the National Firearms Act that are at the heart of the lawsuit against “any person engaged in the domestic manufacture, possession, and transfer of short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, silencers” and other applicable devices or weapons.
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