This week, I’m coming to you from the Philippines. I’m visiting my Fiance’s family, and I have to say, this country is absolutely beautiful. If you get a chance to visit the Chocolate Hills in Bohol, make sure you go!
Contributing Writer Jake Fogleman has picked up much of the slack while I’ve been on the other side of the world. He broke an important story clarifying what’s going on with the ATF’s “zero tolerance” enforcement policy. It turns out that reports of its demise were exaggerated.
The lack of movement on that policy and others has gun-rights groups airing their grievances with the earliest days of the Trump Administration in public. But I examine for members what kind of leverage they really have over Trump at this point.
The courts have been busy, though. The Fifth Circuit struck down the handgun sales ban for 18-to-20-year-olds while the Sixth Circuit revived a liability lawsuit against Sig Sauer over the P320’s design. California also lost its fight against non-resident concealed carry permitting.
Plus, we have The Dispatch’s Kevin Williamson on the podcast reacting to the early days of the Trump administration. We’ve also got a long analysis piece from him on the ins and outs of the ATF.
Gun Industry Says ATF ‘Zero Tolerance’ Policy Remains
By Jake Fogleman
Gun-rights advocates celebrating the end of the ATF’s “zero tolerance” policy toward licensed gun dealers are acting prematurely.
That’s according to the trade association that represents America’s firearm dealers and manufacturers. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) said that despite media reports to the contrary, the ATF’s strict enforcement toward federally licensed gun stores is still very much alive and in force.
“NSSF has spoken with ATF and the policy has not been repealed,” Mark Oliva, the group’s managing director for public affairs, told The Reload.
Analysis: How Much Leverage Do Gun-Rights Activists Have Over Trump? [Member Exclusive]
By Stephen Gutowski
Gun-rights groups began applying public pressure on Donald Trump this week. Will it have any effect?
On Wednesday, two gun groups expressed at least some unhappiness with the current state of gun policy early on in his second administration. The National Shooting Sports Foundation said the ATF has yet to head its call to undo the agency’s “zero tolerance” enforcement policy. Gun Owners of America, confirming the same, went further and complained Trump did not make good on his promise to undo Former President Joe Biden’s gun actions during his first week in office.
“President Trump promised gun-owning voters that Biden’s unconstitutional anti-gun disasters would ‘get ripped up and torn out’ during the first week of his Administration,” the group said in an email to supporters. “We just officially passed that milestone in the Trump-Vance Administration – and Biden’s anti-gun policies are still in effect.”
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Fifth Circuit Strikes Down Federal Handgun Purchase Ban for Adults Under 21 By Jake Fogleman
Prohibiting 18-to-20-year-olds from purchasing handguns at licensed retailers is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court has ruled.
A unanimous three-judge panel for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday struck down a combination of federal statutes that restrict licensed firearm dealers from selling pistols to young adults. The panel found that the prohibitory regime violates the Second Amendment.
“In sum, 18 U.S.C. §§ 992(b)(1), (c)(1) and their attendant regulations are unconstitutional in light of our Nation’s historic tradition of firearm regulation,” Judge Jones wrote in Reese v. ATF.
Sixth Circuit Revives Liability Lawsuit Against Sig Sauer
By Jake Fogleman
A Kentucky man who claims his holstered pistol fired and struck him can once again sue the gunmaker who produced the weapon, a federal appeals court has ruled.
On Monday, a divided panel for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the trial court erred when it dismissed plaintiff Timothy Davis’s product liability claims against Sig Sauer. Specifically, the panel found that the lower court’s decision to disallow Davis’s use of expert witnesses was too sweeping and thus, improperly undermined his ability to proceed with a case against the firearm’s lack of specific external safety mechanisms.
“Although the district court correctly excluded Davis’s experts from testifying about what exactly caused Davis’s P320 to fire inadvertently, the experts’ opinions were otherwise admissible to prove other elements of Davis’s claims—specifically that the P320 is defectively designed and that reasonable alternative designs exist,” Judge Karen Nelson Moore wrote for the majority in Davis v. Sig Sauer.
Analysis: How ATF Operates and How That Could Change
By Kevin D. Williamson
The “F” in ATF stands for “firearms,” and, in the matter of overseeing the sale of these, the ATF is a damned peculiar creature: It is a law enforcement agency dedicated to regulating transactions between federally screened, licensed sellers and a population of buyers from which serious criminals (felons, domestic abusers, those under indictment for such crimes) are excluded. It may not exactly shock you to learn that very few American criminals are carrying firearms legally purchased from a licensed retailer (murderers and armed robbers are not famously punctilious about lesser crimes) but just how small that share is may surprise you: It is less than 2 percent.
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Podcast: The Dispatch’s Kevin Williamson on Trump’s First Week, ATF Reform By Stephen Gutowski
We are about one week into President Donald Trump’s new term. So, we’ve got Kevin Williamson from The Dispatch back on the show to go over what happened.
Or, perhaps more accurately, what didn’t happen. Williamson said Trump’s first week was relatively light on gun action, especially compared to other issues. He said that may not tell us where Trump, who he described as transactional on most issues, on gun policy. But it did give insight into how his administration prioritizes gun rights initiatives.
You can listen to the show on your favorite podcasting app or by clicking here.
Video of the episode is available on our YouTube channel.
Plus, Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I cover Trump’s pardoning of the January 6 rioters, many of whom will again have access to firearms despite being convicted of violent offenses. Finally, we break down a few new developments at the ATF and provide a brief update on the latest news out of the Supreme Court in its consideration of an “assault weapons” ban case.
Analysis: Some Non-Residents Will Soon Be Able to Carry in California [Member Exclusive]
By Jake Fogleman
Long a national outlier, California will have to allow at least some out-of-state visitors an opportunity to carry a firearm in the near future.
On Thursday, US District Court Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett signed an order laying out the terms of a preliminary injunction she previously issued against in CRPA v. LASD last August.
That initial injunction found that California’s practice of denying non-residents the ability to apply for a concealed carry permit likely violated the Second Amendment. It directed the coalition of gun-rights groups that first brought the suit to work with state officials on a practical agreement on how that ruling would be implemented. With Garnett’s approval, Americans planning to make their way to the third most visited state in the country now have a realistic chance of doing so while lawfully armed.
But there are some important caveats.
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Outside The Reload
That’s it for this week in guns.
I’ll see you all next week.
Thanks,
Stephen Gutowski
Founder
The Reload
