Watson v. Holder: Second NFA Lawsuit Filed Challenging 922(o)
Following on the heels of the Hollis v Holder lawsuit filed in late October, Mississippi attorney Stephen Stamboulieh – along with additional counsel David Scott – have brought a second suit alleging that, through 18 U.S.C. §922(o), 26 U.S.C. § 5801 et seq. and the implementing regulations 27 C.F.R. § 479.105(a), the US government has overstepped their powers as provided for under Article I of the US Constitution and violate the Ninth and Tenth amendments by creating a de facto machine gun ban. Additionally, the suit claims, the regulations violate the plaintiff’s (and others’) Second Amendment rights. This is part of the case made in the Watson v. Holder complaint filed last week.
A twist on this case compared to the previously filed Hollis v Holder complaint is that the defendant, Ryan Watson, as a trustee of the Watson Family Gun Trust, had already made the 10.5″ barreled Palmetto State Armory (serial number LW001804) into a machine gun as per the Form 1 as approved by ATF official, Shannon Siviero. It was sometime after this that the ATF “changed their minds,” whited out the relevant portions of the approved From 1, and demanded that Watson “abandon or otherwise surrender” the machine gun and stamp. Following subsequent communications between Watson and the ATF (including a promise of no further criminal prosecution), Watson surrendered, under protest, the new machine gun to the ATF – although maintaining his ownership interest.
This demand for not only the plaintiff’s approved Form 1 and tax stamp (bought, paid for, and issued), but also the machine gun manufactured pursuant to that approval, is the basis for the charge of violating Watson’s Fifth Amendment rights
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. – Amendment V of the United States Constitution
In both cases, declaratory and injunctive relief is sought in the form of either declaring the laws and regulations noted above to be unconstitutional or, alternatively, to find that unincorporated trusts are not prohibited by 922(o) from manufacturing or possessing post-May 19, 1986 machine guns as individuals would be under the Hughes Amendment to the Firearms Owner Protection Act.
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
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:
29th Gun Rights Policy Conference Kicks Off Next Week
Gun Rights Leaders to Speak at Event
WHO: National gun rights leaders
WHAT: Speaking at the 29th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference
WHEN: September 26-28, 2014
WHERE: Chicago O’Hare Airport Hyatt Regency, 9300 Bryn Mawr Ave, Rosemont, IL 60018
For more information and discussion, visit the GRPC discussion thread on the Events board of the GunLink Forums. Read the event press release here.
BELLEVUE, WA – Virginia attorney Alan Gura, who won both the 2008 Heller case and the 2010 case of McDonald v. City of Chicago before the U.S. Supreme Court, and also won Moore v. Madigan before the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, forcing the state of Illinois to adopt a concealed carry statute, will be one of the highlight speakers later this month at the 2014 Gun Rights Policy Conference at the Chicago O’Hare Airport Hyatt Regency, an event that will also feature several national gun rights leaders.
Also on the schedule are attorney and Second Amendment scholar Stephen Halbrook; Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), John Fund, national affairs columnist at National Review Online and senior editor at The American Spectator, and John Lott, author of More Guns = Less Crime and a Fox News.com contributor. Continue reading
