CHARLESTON — West Virginia joined 16 other states in a lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives regarding the regulation of gun parts.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said the suit was filed because of the changes the ATF and United States Department of Justice made with the new rule.
"This new rule contains massive changes that do nothing but infringe on the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms," Morrisey said. "Again, this is an example of federal overreach wherein an agency run by unelected bureaucrats resorts to regulation rather than legislation."
The final rule was published by the ATF in April and is supposed to go into effect on Aug. 24. The lawsuit also names ATF Director Steven M. Dettelbach as a defendant.
The Final Rule "adopts a vague, standardless definition of the statutory term 'readily,' and applies it to ban 80% of frames and receivers, including when sold as so-called 'weapon parts kits,'" according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota.
The lawsuit claims the final rule represents one of the most sweeping gun control schemes since the Gun Control Act of 1968.
"Such improper regulation by ATF in the Final Rule exceeds not only the agency’s authority under any statute Congress enacted, but also the federal government’s limited constitutional authority under the Interstate Commerce Clause, thus violating the Tenth Amendment," the complaint states.
The states claim the final rule will make it harder for citizens to manufacture their own firearms and conflicts with state laws.
The states of Arizona, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming were all part of the lawsuit.
U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota case number: 3:22-cv-00116