NFA Lawsuit Filed – Holder, Jones Summonsed
UDATE 11/24/2014: The DOJ has filed an Entry of Appearance naming Eric J. Soskin as counsel for the defendants.
UPDATE 11/5/2014: Holder and Jones have both been officially served with their summons as of 5 November, 2014 at 5:22AM. The 60-day clock is ticking.
We recently posted about the Mississippi attorney who was seeking crowd funding for a lawsuit or lawsuits to challenge certain aspects of the gun control regulations laid out in the National Firearms Act, Gun Control Act and associated legislation, ATF rulings, etc.
The complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief in Hollis v Holder et al. was filed yesterday with the goal of either declaring the de facto ban on machine guns to be unconstitutional or finding that 922(0) does not prohibit unincorporated trusts from manufacturing or posessing a machine gun manufactured after the 1986 date created by the Hughes Amendment to FOPA. From the introductory section of the Hollis v Holder complaint:
1. This is an action seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from 18 U.S.C. §922(o), 26 U.S.C. § 5801 et seq. and the implementing regulations 27 C.F.R. § 479.105(a). These statutory and regulatory provisions generally act as an unlawful de facto ban on the transfer or possession of a machine gun manufactured after May 19, 1986. By imposing such a ban on an entire class of weapons, the statutes and regulations exceed the power of the United States under Article I of the United States Constitution; violate the Second Amendment rights of the Plaintiff and all similarly situated individuals; violate the Ninth and Tenth Amendments and the United States Constitution’s principles of federalism and dual sovereignty; by arbitrarily “disapproving” an already approved Form 1, Defendants’ actions violate Plaintiff’s Fifth Amendment right to due process and is an unjust taking; and violate the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
2. Plaintiff seeks declaratory and injunctive relief against the unconstitutional provisions contained in 18 U.S.C. § 922(o), 26 U.S.C. § 5801 et seq. and 27 C.F.R. § 479.105(a); declaring the ban on machine guns unconstitutional under the Second, Ninth and Tenth Amendments and in violation of Article I of the United States Constitution and declaratory and injunctive relief prohibiting Defendants from unjustly taking property without Due Process.
3. In the alternative, Plaintiff seeks declaratory and injunctive relief finding that 18 U.S.C. § 922(o) does not prohibit an unincorporated trust from manufacturing or possessing a machinegun manufactured after May 19, 1986 and/or that the Defendants lack the authority and are thus prohibited from revoking or denying the validity of Plaintiff’s approved tax stamp #RM34755.
The summons notifying recently-resigned Attorney General Eric Holder and BATFE directory B. Todd Jones of the lawsuit, has been issued and is available online specifying that if the defendants fail to respond within the 60 day deadline, judgment by default will be entered against them for the relief described above.
Mississippi Lawyer Accepting Crowd Funding Donations to Fight NFA
You may remember a while back when we shared some information about how the BATFE may have “accidentally” opened the machine gun registry.
This Prince Law Blog post provides most of the background, but the gist is this: Since 1986, thanks to the Hughes Amendment to the Firearm Owners Protection Act, “persons” have been disallowed from making new machine guns (922(o) reads, in part: “it shall be unlawful for any person to transfer or possess a machinegun [except] a machinegun that was lawfully possessed before the date this subsection takes effect“). In response to a request for clarification about a NICS check question, an ATF official noted that “Unlike individuals, corporations, partnerships, and associations; unincorporated trusts do not fall within the definition of “person” in the GCA.”
This caused Prince to reach the conclusion that “[P]ursuant to 26 U.S.C. 5812 and 5822, an unincorporated trust may lawfully transfer and make machineguns, as it is not a “person” for purposes of the GCA and Section 922 only applies to “persons” as defined by the GCA“. Word spread and some Form 1s were submitted on trusts to make new machine guns. For better or worse, the BATFE approved a number of them and, rumor has it, some of those approvals were acted on and new machine guns were made. And here we are today… with new Form 1s being categorically rejected, approved Form 1s (and, potentially, new machine guns) out in the wild with the BATFE saying “Oops! Our bad, can you send those back and not make machine guns with them?”
Now, Stephen D. Stamboulieh of Stamboulieh Law, PLLC has taken up the banner and is preparing to take the case(s) to court. Stamboulieh is seeking crowd funding donations through his GoFundMe effort titled Help Overturn 18 USC 922(o) & NFA. The effort has already raised nearly $29k of the $50k goal.
From the GoFundMe page: Continue reading
Cast Your #GunVote at the Polls This November 4th
Learn About the Issues, Find NRA Endorsements & Grades and More
General elections will be held throughout the US on November 4th this year. Early voting is already well underway in many locations and absentee ballots are being circulated.
With controversial issues like healthcare and immigration reform being talked about, an openly anti-gun administration which recklessly wields “a pen and a phone,” personnel shake-ups at the Department of Justice and close decisions by an aging supreme court there is clearly a lot at stake with this election.
If you like the idea of more gun control laws and greater restrictions on individual rights, your task is easy: stay at home and don’t get involved. On the other hand, if you desire to see our constitution upheld and our rights preserved you have a little more work to do. An informed, involved populace is the only thing that will keep our nation on track. Continue reading
Reader Poll: Gun Rights Organizations
Of Which, if any, RKBA Organizations are You a Member?
There are many organizations out there with the goal of protecting our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, each of which has a different strategy and, perhaps, a different levels of effectiveness.
Are you a member of any of them? Choose your organization(s) below to cast your vote and tell us why you chose (or didn’t choose) a particular group.
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VIDEO: NRA Launches Second Round of Anti-Bloomberg Campaign
Ad Features Violent Crime Survivor Calling Out Bloomberg Hypocrisy
Not one more constitutional right!
The National Rifle Association today launched the second round of advertising in a national campaign aimed at exposing Michael Bloomberg’s anti-freedom agenda. The second ad of the “Meet the Real Michael Bloomberg” campaign is a powerful to-camera ad titled “Kim” and features violent crime survivor Kimberly Weeks speaking directly to Michael Bloomberg. The “Kim” ad is part of a $2 million plus national advertising campaign and will air on television stations across America.
“Kimberly has a powerful personal message that effectively exposes the lies and hypocrisy of Bloomberg’s $50 million campaign aimed at taking away Americans’ Second Amendment rights,” said NRA spokesman Jennifer Baker. “To Michael Bloomberg this may be just a pet project to satisfy his enormous ego and control the lives of everyone around him, but to ordinary American citizens it has a very dangerous impact.”
As a college student, Kimberly was brutally attacked in her apartment. She was overpowered and defenseless against her attacker. After her horrific experience, Kimberly got her concealed carry permit for self defense. When Kimberly was assaulted, she had to plead with her attacker to spare her life during her harrowing ordeal. Later, when testifying before the Colorado legislature, she pled with lawmakers, who were considering legislation to ban concealed carry on college campuses, not to strip her of the right to carry on her college campus. She didn’t want to be left defenseless again. In this powerful NRA ad, Kimberly stands up to Michael Bloomberg and his gun control efforts. She calls out Michael Bloomberg on his hypocrisy and says, “Mr. Bloomberg you do not have the right to tell me how to defend myself.” Continue reading
Branco: Democrats for Gun Rights
Like clockwork, as election time approaches candidates – including proven anti-gunners – trot out their gun rights rhetoric. From obama holding a smoking shotgun to US Senate hopeful democrat Alison Grimes hoping to unseat Republican leader Mitch McConnell by holding a rifle, candidates are trying to coax gun owners to their side.
We’re not sure who is supposed to fall for these tactics but, election cycle after election cycle, they continue to show themselves holding firearms while bandying about their NRA membership (like that’s some big feat – NRA memberships are a mere $25 a year here).
A.F. Branco isn’t falling for it, as he shows in his Democrats for Gun Rights cartoon:
