NEW ORLEANS, LA (June 5, 2023) – Today, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced the filing of an opening brief with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Mock v. Garland, FPC and FPC Action Foundation’s challenge to ATF’s pistol brace rule. Today’s brief was filed less than two weeks after the court clarified that its injunction against the rule covers FPC’s members. The brief can be viewed at FPCLegal.org.
“The merits panel should extend the interim relief pending appeal into a preliminary injunction,” argues the brief. “The Final Rule violates the Second Amendment and is not authorized by the NFA. But even if the NFA is ambiguous enough to allow for the Final Rule, then the Final Rule is barred by lenity and reflects an unconstitutional delegation of authority to the Agencies. The Final Rule also violates the First Amendment by considering the speech of manufacturers and third parties, is hopelessly vague, and violates both the substantive and notice provisions of the APA. On each of these points, Appellants are likely to succeed on the merits.”
“Receiving the injunction pending appeal was just the first step to ensuring that the Plaintiffs, including Maxim Defense’s customers and FPC’s members, are properly protected from the federal government while we litigate our full case against ATF’s stabilizing brace rule,” said Cody J. Wisniewski, FPC Action Foundation’s Senior Attorney for Constitutional Litigation and attorney for FPC in this case. “All we’re asking is for the Fifth Circuit to preserve the decade-long status quo, as it has already done, through a preliminary injunction to protect millions of peaceable people from this unconstitutional and illegal overreach.”
Individuals who would like to Join the FPC Grassroots Army and support important pro-rights lawsuits and programs can sign up at JoinFPC.org. Individuals and organizations wanting to support charitable efforts in support of the restoration of Second Amendment and other natural rights can also make a tax-deductible donation to the FPC Action Foundation. For more on FPC’s lawsuits and other pro-Second Amendment initiatives, visit FPCLegal.org and follow FPC on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube.
Firearms Policy Coalition (firearmspolicy.org), a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization, exists to create a world of maximal human liberty, defend constitutional rights, advance individual liberty, and restore freedom. FPC’s efforts are focused on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and adjacent issues including freedom of speech, due process, unlawful searches and seizures, separation of powers, asset forfeitures, privacy, encryption, and limited government. The FPC team are next-generation advocates working to achieve the Organization’s strategic objectives through litigation, research, scholarly publications, amicus briefing, legislative and regulatory action, grassroots activism, education, outreach, and other programs.
FPC Law (FPCLaw.org) is the nation’s first and largest public interest legal team focused on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and the leader in the Second Amendment litigation and research space.
FPC Action Foundation (FPCActionFoundation.org), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, exists to create a world of maximal human liberty through charitable legal action, public policy, education, and research programs