February 12, 2020
Firearms and Ammunition Industry to Oppose Antigun State Attorneys General Effort to Stop Jobs-Creating Rules Going Into Effect
NEWTOWN, Conn. — The National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®), the trade association for the firearms and ammunition industry, and a small Washington state business filed a motion[1] in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington in Seattle to intervene in a lawsuit filed by 23 state attorneys general to block two recently announced rules by the Trump administration. The rules changes would create jobs and reduce onerous and costly regulations on small businesses.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, and 22 other state attorneys general, are suing to halt export reforms due to go into effect March 9 following the final rules moving export licensing of sporting and commercial firearms and ammunition products to the Commerce Department from the State Department. The export reforms were begun during the Obama administration and only recently completed. The attorney’s general complaint centers on claims the technology for 3D printing of firearms would be “de-regulated.” However, their complaint seeks to block the reforms in their entirety. These rules would end punitive registration fees on small businesses that do not export firearms or ammunition products. The motion filed this week asks the court to allow NSSF, as the firearms industry’s trade association, to intervene in the case to defend its members’ interests.
“Attorney General Ferguson, and the other attorneys general, are continuing to punish small business owners to score political points,” said Lawrence G. Keane, Senior Vice President for Government Relations and Public Affairs and General Counsel for NSSF. “The attorneys general target only the export reforms treatment of technical data related to 3D-printed firearms, yet seek an injunction against, or to vacate altogether, the reforms that
