Robert K. Merting - Attorney at Law
Trust Your Guns: A firearms, business, and ITAR knowledgeable law practice
That is essentially the question answered by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Reese v. BATFE, No. 23-3003 (5th Circuit 2025) when it considered whether eighteen- to twenty-year-old persons have the right to purchase handguns from Federal Firearm Licensees. Spoiler: Reese 1; BATFE 0. The Second Amendment Covers More than the right ‘to own and bear arms.’ Read More …
The 2018 lawsuit challenging the ATF’s reclassification of bump stocks from plastic accessories to machine guns has finally made its way to a Supreme Court decision. While some laws may take over a century to be struck down, this one only took six years. Practically lightening speed! And yes, you read that right. The ATF’s Read More …
If you are digging into this article, I am assuming you have already read about ‘Privately Made Firearms’ and have a handle on what that term means. The question here, succinctly stated, is: Can a Privately Made Firearm be made from an existing serialized frame or receiver? I’m sure the instinctual answer is NO: “PMFs Read More …
Can you define a firearm “frame or receiver”? Do you think it is the “part of a firearm which provides housing for the hammer, bolt or breechblock, and firing mechanism, and which is usually threaded at its forward portion to receive the barrel”? 27 CFR § 478.11. If you answered yes, then a strict construction. . . Read More …
You likely know of Biden’s latest rule affecting firearms and firearm owners. This three-hundred-and-some-page monstrosity, known as 2021R-05F, covers everything from the definition of “firearm” to record retention of FFL’s business documents. I’ll focus on one piece of this rule today: “Privately made firearm” or PMFs. What is a Privately made firearm? Well, a PMF is not a Read More …