Buckeye Reporter

On June 28, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and overturned Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.

While the Loper Bright case dealt with the federal government’s regulation of commercial herring fishing, overruling the court’s Chevron decision will have far-reaching consequences for federal firearm regulations.

Before Friday, under "Chevron deference," federal courts deferred to any "permissible" reading of a federal statute made by a federal agency if the court determined that the intent of Congress under the statute was unclear. This rule led federal courts to uphold many federal regulations that bore little resemblance to the statutes they were supposedly implementing.

"It is also antithetical to America’s constitutional structure for an executive branch agency to be given the power to create binding interpretations of the laws they are charged with enforcing," Chief Justice Roberts stated in the court’s majority opinion. He added, "[t]he Framers … envisioned that the final ‘interpretation of the laws’ would be ‘the proper and peculiar province of the courts.’"

In recent years, most federal gun control has been created through regulations implemented by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). This includes ATF’s treatment of all pistols with attached stabilizing braces as short-barreled rifles, ATF’s redefinition of the term “frame or receiver” to effectively ban parts used by hobbyist gun builders, and ATF’s attempt to expand who must be licensed as a gun dealer before selling firearms.

Thanks to the court’s decision to reject Chevron deference, all these ATF rules are now on very questionable legal footing.

The court's departure from agency deference has already influenced recent rulings on firearm regulations. When it rejected ATF’s ban on bump fire stocks two weeks ago, it notably did not defer to ATF's interpretation of "machinegun." Many court watchers assumed this indicated an impending limitation or overturning of Chevron when Loper Bright was decided.

Gun owners and advocates for personal liberties anticipate fewer restrictions from unelected federal bureaucrats following this landmark ruling.

© 2024 National Rifle Association of America, Institute for Legislative Action. This may be reproduced but not for commercial purposes.

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