The Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition (FRAC) and Franklin Armory won a significant victory over the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in a North Dakota United States District Court.

The fight was over the ATF classification of the Franklin Armory Reformation and Antithesis firearms. The Reformation had a barrel that had straight lands and grooves. Since the statutory definition of a rifle says it must have a rifled barrel, the Reformation doesn’t meet the definition of a rifle. The barrel isn’t a smooth bore, either. The Gun Control Act (GCA) statutory definition of a shotgun states that the barrel must be a smooth bore. The statutory definition of a shotgun under the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) says that a shotgun must use shotgun shells. The Reformation is chambered in .300 Blackout. The Franklin Armory called this barrel design “NRS.” “NRS” stands for “Not a Rifle or Shotgun.”

The Antithesis is a firearm that can use both shot shells and cartridges. According to federal statute, a rifle can shoot” only a single projectile.” Since the Antithesis shoots both shot shells and cartridges, Franklin Armory claimed the firearm was not a rifle. Both firearms were submitted to the ATF for classification letters.

The ATF ruled that the Reformation was a shotgun under the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) because, according to the ATF, a “smooth bore” doesn’t require a bore to be smooth. The ATF said it only means that a barrel doesn’t have rifling. ATF classified the Reformation as a GCA-only regulated short-barrel shotgun. This classification is similar to those of 14-inch GCA-only shotguns like the Shockwave or TAC-14.

In 2019, The ATF told Franklin Armory that the Reformation could only be sold or transferred to those with an FFL, and the owner could not take the firearm across state lines. The ATF said it was “currently developing the procedures and forms to address this gap in the federal firearm regulations.” There were no ATF forms for GCA-only short-barreled shotguns.

In 2020, the ATF failed its attempt to develop a form for a GCA-only firearm. The ATF claimed that the transport or transfer of GCA-only short-barreled shotguns outside NFA regulations was inconsistent with public safety. They contended that allowance for GCA-only short-barreled shotguns “contradicts Congress’ intent to more closely regulate concealable shotguns through the NFA.”

With the Antithesis, Franklin Armory stated they designed and advertised the firearm to fire both types of ammunition. The ATF said it didn’t matter that Franklin Armory designed the gun to fire both shot shells and cartridges. The Bureau stated that “a rifled bore is an objective design feature designed and made to fire only a single projectile.” It determined that the Antithesis was a short-barreled rifle under the GCA and the NFA.

In January 2023, FRAC and Franklin Armory teamed up and sued the ATF over the classifications. The ATF would then change its mind over the Reformation. The ATF issued a new classification of the Reformation, and this time, it said that the Reformation was a shotgun under the GCA and the NFA, even though it didn’t meet the definition of a shotgun under the NFA.

The Bureau claimed that it was using “Congressional intent” when issuing the new classification. It said that Congress “did not intend for a firearm classification under these definitions to be driven by the classification of the type of ammunition the weapon is capable of firing, as opposed to the objective design features and capabilities of the weapon itself.” The ATF claimed since shotgun shells are not defined in the NFA, it could use “ordinary meaning” of “shotgun shells.” According to the ATF, a shotgun shell is “[t]he cartridge for a shotgun.” This definition means that the .300Blk cartridge could be considered a shotgun shell. The ATF tried to claim that the case was now moot because of the new classification letter. This argument failed after the plaintiff’s complaint was amended.

The ATF argued that the court should give deference to its interpretation of GCA and NFA because firearm classification “requires a high level of technical expertise.” The plaintiffs rejected the ATF’s reasoning. They stated that criminal statute is not entitled to deference. Both the NFA and GCA are criminal statutes with serious repercussions.

The judge highlights that in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the Supreme Court overruled agency deference, stating the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) directs courts to “interpret constitutional and statutory provisions,” which “makes clear that agency interpretations of statutes—like agency interpretations of the Constitution—are not entitled to deference.” SCOTUS said the “best reading “of a statute is ‘the reading the court would have reached’ if no agency were involved.”

The APA said that an agency action may be set aside if it is “arbitrary, capricious,” or “in excess of statutory . . . authority.” The plaintiffs claimed that the ATF’s action on the Reformation was both arbitrary, capricious, and the ATF exceeded its statutory authority. The judge rejected the ATF changing the definition of “smooth bore.” It also dismissed the ATF’s attempts to change the definition of “fixed shotgun shells.” The judge felt that the ATF was changing its meaning to justify its ends.

The plaintiffs claim the ATF’s classification of the Antithesis “exceeded its authority by disregarding statutory text, the classification is arbitrary and capricious because ATF disregarded statutory text, and the classification is arbitrary and capricious because ATF failed to consider an important aspect of the problem.” The plaintiffs said that the ATF disregarded the plain statutory language of what is a rifle. The ATF claims if the statute is read how Congress wrote it. No firearm would be classified as a “rifle.” The judge rejected the ATF’s argument. Rifles are designed to fire a single cartridge, whereas the Antithesis is designed to fire both shot shells and cartridges.

The judge ruled against the ATF and said, “Congress gave ATF the ability to enforce the law, not change it. Franklin Armory created a weapon that didn’t fit into the round holes made by Congress but did not give ATF authority to change the shape or size of the hole to make the Reformation fit. The separation of powers ‘is admitted on all hands to be essential to the preservation of liberty.’”

FRAC President & CEO Travis White stated, “The ATF has egregiously abused the firearms technology classification process, and this is a landmark ruling in reining in such abuses.”

Franklin Armory President Jay Jacobson said, “We spent years trying to reason with ATF leadership as they failed to classify firearms correctly. We hope that future agency leaders will stick to the law as passed by Congress. All we ever wanted was a good referee, not someone to throw the game.”

The judge granted FRAC and Franklin Armory their motion for summary judgment. The ATF will have 180 days to create a procedure for regulating GCA-only firearms.

About John Crump

Mr. Crump is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people from all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons, follow him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.