Attorney General Austin Knudsen and 16 other state attorneys general joined a lawsuit today against the Biden administration’s rules that threaten the long-held American tradition of private firearms assembly and put the livelihood of thousands of Americans at risk.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) rulemaking would regulate unfinished, non-functional firearm parts as if they were complete firearms, thereby undermining the states’ ability to enforce their own legal codes with respect to items and activities that the federal government may not constitutionally regulate.
“This rule infringes on every American’s right to assemble firearms for their own use – a long-held tradition dating back to the founding of our nation,” Attorney General Knudsen said. “Criminals will ignore this rule and it will not make Montanans safer. It will, however, shut down firearm companies, allow the government to end online sales of parts, and expand federal access to gun owner data – all without congressional approval.”