Arizona AG Brnovich sues Biden admin over gun manufacturing rules

Arizona Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich on Wednesday announced he was suing the Biden administration over rules the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) imposed that would treat incomplete gun parts as finished firearms.

Brnovich, alongside 16 other attorneys general, Morehouse Enterprises, Gun Owners of America, and Gun Owners Foundation issued a press release alleged the ATF "seeks to, among other things, regulate unfinished, non-functional parts as if they were complete firearms. This threatens the American tradition of private firearms manufacturing that predates the Revolution."

“The ATF is attempting to overshoot the authority granted to it by Congress,” Brnovich said. “The rulemakings are unconstitutional, impractical, and would likely put a large number of parts manufacturers out of business.”

At the center of the suit is Eliezer Jimenez, a North Dakota resident who makes his own guns from spare parts. "Plaintiff Jimenez buys his parts, including unfinished frames or receivers, tools, jigs, and other items to assist him in making firearms, from online retailers," the complaint states. "Given the breadth of the Final Rule, as explained further below, the ruling directly impacts Plaintiff Jimenez by restricting his ability to acquire these parts, and also making it difficult if not impossible to determine what parts he is allowed to purchase online, and from which vendors, without exposing himself to potential criminal liability for undefined crimes, such as structuring."

Brnovich also alleged that the ATF was preparing to create a national firearms registry.

The suit follows federal legislation that expanded background checks in the wake of several high-profile shootings that thrust gun regulation back into the national spotlight.