AR-15 80% lower
Dan Z. for TTAG

From the FPC:

Yesterday, the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF), and 80% Arms announced the filing of a motion to intervene in a lawsuit brought by the Cities of Syracuse, San Jose, Chicago, Columbia, SC, as well as Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund (Plaintiffs) against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Acting ATF Director Regina Lombardo, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and Attorney General William Barr (Defendants) in which they challenge ATF’s classification of non-firearm objects, sometimes colloquially referred to as “80% receivers”. The case, City of Syracuse, et al. v. BATFE, et al., can be viewed at FPCLegal.org.

The Everytown Plaintiffs’ complaint contends that the ATF and DOJ refuse to apply the statutory language found in the Gun Control Act (GCA), and as a result, fail to regulate non-firearm objects as “firearms” as they prefer under their radical gun control agenda. Their complaint further alleges that ATF has arbitrarily determined that if an object is solid in certain areas or lacks drilling and machining, it is not classified as a firearm under the GCA. FPC is intervening on behalf of itself and its members, who include producers, sellers, buyers, and possessors of non-firearm objects to ensure that their rights and interests are protected.

“The ATF and DOJ will not adequately represent the interests of FPC and our law-abiding members and supporters across the country,” said attorney Adam Kraut, FPC’s Director of Legal Strategy. “For decades, the ATF has enforced a bright-line delineation as to when an object becomes a ‘firearm’ under the Gun Control Act. The Everytown plaintiffs in this case seek to pervert that longstanding definition, enforcement practice, and public reliance interest to comport with their warped view of what a firearm is. FPC is compelled to intervene and aggressively protect the rights and liberty of millions of Americans.”

“This case is about defending the ingenuity and self-sufficiency of Americans in the face of the culture of control and dependency that is taking over our Republic,” said lead counsel, Mountain States Legal Foundation’s Cody J. Wisniewski. “The cities and gun control activists in this litigation are trying to force their own definition of a ‘firearm’ on the entirety of the United States, thereby instituting federal government control and quashing Americans’ ability to rely on their own skills and expertise.”

Recently, Firearms Policy Coalition has filed several major federal Second Amendment lawsuits, including challenges to New Jersey’s carry ban (Bennett v. Davis), New York City’s carry ban (Greco v. New York City), the federal ban on the sale of handguns and handgun ammunition by federal firearm licensees (FFLs) to adults under 21 years of age (Reese v. BATFE), and California’s Handgun Ban and “Roster” laws (Renna v. Becerra). FPC also has an upcoming trial in its lawsuit challenging California’s “assault weapons” ban (Miller v. Becerra).To follow these and other legal cases FPC is actively working on, visit the Legal Action section of FPC’s website or follow FPC on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube.

Firearms Policy Coalition (firearmspolicy.org) is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization. FPC’s mission is to protect and defend constitutional rights—especially the right to keep and bear arms—advance individual liberty, and restore freedom through litigation and legal action, legislative and regulatory action, education, outreach, grassroots activism, other programs. FPC Law is the nation’s largest public interest legal team focused on Second Amendment and adjacent fundamental rights including freedom of speech and due process, conducting litigation, research, scholarly publications, and amicus briefing, among other efforts.

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47 COMMENTS

    • What constitutional protections belong to an 80% lower? After all it’s not a firearm. Now I agree it is not in the purview of the ATF to regulate a non firearm object. There’s nothing in the constitution that says that a state cannot regulate said object.

      • The 2nd Amendment protects your right to keep and bear arms and that would naturally include the right to acquire, make, buy, and sell whatever you were keeping and bearing as well as whatever materials and tools you needed to acquire, make, buy, or sell.

      • “What constitutional protections belong to an 80% lower? After all it’s not a firearm.”

        That’s true all the way back to the raw minerals. For everything.

        As to states regulating everything back to the dirt, you are correct. Under the pre-1868 constitution, states retained all powers not specifically delegated.

        • True, true…unless it can be proven that a State is taking actions to specifically prevent you from exercising a protected right…

    • Rhode island did not ban them outright..they made it so you need to have a serial number on it before you machine out/bend/reweld the receiver

  2. OK, these 2A defenders have found enough money in recent time to launch a flurry of lawsuits that the massive coffers of NRA could not initiate. Where are these “upstarts” getting all the money that the NRA could not generate in defense of the Second Amendment?

    • Have the rich folks in the drug legalization crowd donated, big $$$, to defend gun civil rights? No they have not.

    • They’re getting money from guys like me.
      I won’t spend another penny at the NRA until Wayne is gone.
      So I send donations to other entities who are actually doing something.

      • “They’re getting money from guys like me.”

        That cannot be the explanation. These “upstarts” are too new, lack sophisticated lobbists, are shoestring operations, don’t have credibility in Congress, don’t have name recognition in the MSM, just cannot have the same clout as the 5,000,000 member oldest civil rights organization in the nation.

        This can’t be happening, I tell you.

          • “How Do 2A Groups Spend Money?”

            Other than to say it probably depends on the group, I wouldn’t know.

        • In that video he claims :

          “SCOTUS hasn’t heard a 2A case in a decade.”

          Yes, they did.

          The ‘NY Pistol’ transport case oral arguments were heard, before they (read, Roberts) mooted it. A 2A case was heard…

        • New? Upstarts? For those who never knew there was anything but the NRA:

          Gun Owners of America was founded in 1975 by the NRA board member and California state senator H. L. Richardson when legislation to ban all handguns was introduced in California.[7] Richardson was the chairman of Gun Owners of America until his death in 2020.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_Owners_of_America

          The group was founded by U.S. Navy veteran, former FFL dealer, and author Aaron S. Zelman in 1989. Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership recognizes the Second Amendment as protecting a pre-existing natural law right of individuals to keep and bear arms. It is based in Bellevue, Washington.[3]

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews_for_the_Preservation_of_Firearms_Ownership

          Founded in 1974 by Alan Gottlieb and headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, SAF publishes gun rights magazines and public education materials, funds conferences, provides media contacts, and has assumed a central role in sponsoring lawsuits.[3]

          The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) is the lobbying affiliate of the SAF. As of January 2015, both groups reported having over 650,000 members.[4][5]

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_Foundation

          The Firearms Policy Coalition was founded in 2013 as an organization aiming to strengthen existing protections for gun owners and oppose legislation that could affect those protections. According to Red Alert Politics, which interviewed the group’s founders, the Firearms Policy Coalition was formed to partner with the Second Amendment Foundation, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, CalGuns, and the California Associations of Federal Firearms Licensees.

          https://ballotpedia.org/Firearms_Policy_Coalition

          The thing that has changed is that money that was previously being donated to WLP’s Suits and Ho’s fund is now being given to these organizations. They have been fighting the fight, the real fight, for a long time, while Negotiating Rights Away was negotiating rights away. With the increasing law suits, and the successful lawsuits, and the spread of social media removing the gatekeepers in the lame stream media, they have become more known and have slowly been increasing their share of the pro gun donation money for a long time. The final straw is the revelation to NRA members of what that organization was actually about which has driven tons of donations to the actual pro gun groups.

          The media wanted you to believe there was only ever the NRA because NRA was part of the system and it gave them one opponent to blame and fight.

          • “Step out of the conversation, Geoff. Adults are conversing.”

            Hhhhmmmm. Unless you think I am also Geoff (who knows, maybe so), the comment should have been preceeded by “@Geoff”. If you intended me as the recipient, I am puzzled.

        • Take your own advise, boy.

          Your opinion means *nothing* in TTAG, since you don’t contribute to the conversation.

          Hurling your little insults isn’t adding to the conversation.

          I have a much better idea!

          How about talking guns instead publicly demonstrating what a fuckwit you are? 😉

        • It’s all between Geoff and that deranged idiot that follows him around.

          You know how sometimes a dog (usually one of those miniature toy-dog breeds) will get suicidally aggressive if it even suspects an unknown dog might be near, to the point where it has to be isolated in sensory deprivation to break the fear/aggression feedback loop?

          The internet does that to some people.

          Unlike the dog, the human troll has to know, in some deeply buried rational corner of its mind, that this is utterly fruitless and never ends well for the anklebiter, but he can’t resist.

          • “It’s all between Geoff and that deranged idiot that follows him around.”

            Got it. Thanx for the follow up.

      • Same here – I’ve donated thousands to FPC, Calguns, SAF, and pro-gun politicians. I continue to donate to Trump’s lawsuits against election fraud.

        • I got some “investments” you can donate in. Send me some money and I’ll get more shit done than any politician.

  3. “But without the NRA nobody else can or will defend our gun rights, and if we don’t help Wayne pay for another gold digger’s apartment we will lose everything!”

    -The fudds and morons who still support that gun control group/personal piggy bank for WLP

    (Also, i just have to say, I LOVE that basically every comment here thus far is echoing that sentiment. In this and only this, I agree wholeheartedly with the left: fvck the NRA!)

    • I agree with the idea and ideals of the NRA. It’s what happened – what it evolved into – under WLP’s (overly long) tenure in charge that’s the problem, imo.

      I’d rather see the NRA reformed and reborn into what it should be, than eliminated. Supporting it in its present form, however, is something I won’t do.

      • The NRA once had two basic functions, and performed them well – they were a pre-eminent civil rights organization, and they were an excellent forum for teaching gun handling and gun safety. The NRA supported the rights of BLACK Americans to buy, own, and use guns when “Jim Crow” laws were still prevalent. The NRA taught generations of Americans how to safely own, handle, store and use guns. The “Eddie the Eagle” program was and is an excellent tool for training the younger generation. And for all that, I salute the NRA and its members, and thank them.

        The NRA decided (thank you, $5000 suit Wayne, you thieving @$$hole!) it wanted to be a pre-eminent 2A lobbying organization. At which it sucks out loud. The NRA should have stuck to its charter and expertise, and not paid for Wayne the Thief’s expensive tastes.

        The GOA, FPC, SAF and others are far better, and smarter, lobbyists for 2A rights than Wayne the Thief will ever be. I let my NRA membership lapse, intentionally, because I will NOT buy that thieving @$$hole another suit. When they return to their area of expertise, I will rejoin and support them.

        In the meantime, my money goes to GOS, FPC, and SAF. And I am hopeful that the new SCOTUS will finally grow a pair, and slap down some Circuit Courts of Appeal that desperately need it. Not predicting, just hoping.

  5. You can send all the pennies you want to support pro-2a politics… none of it will make a difference. None of it has since the second amendment was created…. that’s why we are where we are. Try to acknowledge there is only one way to obtain freedom for once in your life. You can avoid it all you want, but at least be aware what it will take and stop bitching because nothing’s getting done. Ready whenever you are.

    • That ain’t gonna work all that well, since you won’t control the Senate, are about to have the thinnest majority in years in the House, and have an originalist SCOTUS, but keep blowing smoke up your own ass. You Leftist authoritarian twats have been trying to sell fascism since this whole COVID theater started. Americans are rejecting it in droves. Regulate this, twatwaffle – suck a fat choad.

    • The problem with going to war with the other side over rights is that they declare war back. Maybe if you didn’t regulate the Trumpettes’ gun rights away they wouldn’t try to regulate a women’s right to choose or healthcare so much. It’s a zero-sum game.

  8. Serious question for the demented gun grabbers: please document all intances where an 80% lower was used to commit a violent crime.
    I’ll wait.

    • And to prove how serious problem they present, show what percentage of violent crime (not just “gun crime”) they have been used to commit.

  9. But that will go against the GCA of ‘68 which states that you can build your own firearm without a serial number for personal use. After all, the ATF can only regulate the business end of firearms, not pieces of metal.

    • “But that will go against the GCA of ‘68 which states that you can build your own firearm without a serial number for personal use.”

      “What we have here is failure to communicate.” “You gotta gitcher mind right.”

      The move is not against all “lowers”, but, primarily, lowers for the AR platform. Because the “80% lowers” are used to build rifles that can be made for select-fire (full auto), the lowers are part of a machine gun, well within the purview of ATF, via both NFA and GCA.

      • Or they could be used to build desk lamps.

        Or a Polymer80 could be used to build part of a nuclear warhead.

        Or my toothpaste tube could be used to make a silencer.

        So what? They still are *not* *guns* at that point.

        • “So what? They still are *not* *guns* at that point.”

          Haven’t we already seen that certain replacement fire control parts that are designed for full auto weapons have been successfully declared illegal?

          And don’t forget….not all commentary is what it seems.

  10. i called my local gunshop today in wisconsin
    inquiring if i should start the process to sbr my 2 ar pistols if biden wins
    guy there that i trust said there was an atf agent there yesterday
    they had a long talk…
    upshot:
    said pistol braces will likely stay but even if they dont existing ones would be grandfathered without a form 1
    also said 80 percent lowers will definitely be gone if biden wins
    recommended people stock up now on pistol lowers
    just passing on info…

  11. I already have two 80%s that I built years ago. I just bought 3 more as a FU to libturds.

    Little known fact. Since 80%er are not registered, they can go back and forth between pistol and rifle

  12. With this leftist thinking, the block of aluminum in my shop is now a 0% lower, they will refer to this a “firearm loophole” and initiate legislation to ban it.

    These are the same people that run the postal service and now want to regulate my health care!.

    • To “d”: what this is about are the serialed lowers that have capability to be turned into 80 percent, anything! And everything – with lower parts kits and some drill bits! Helpfull? Everything from a calgun, to a stoner 63-and all the guns in-between

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