I was scratching my head a bit over that one too but went on to read the FULL ARTICLE from NSSF titled, “WHY A SUPREME COURT EPA RULING COULD DOOM RECENT ATF RULES” by Larry Keane.

If I wrote here that agencies like EPA or ATF don’t have the legal authority to make their own rules, you’re likely to agree with me.  Yet, they do.  And have for a long time.  Here’s a snippet from Larry’s article, which is quite good by the way:

The EPA, in writing the rules for the Clean Power Plan rule under the Clean Air Act, “claimed to discover an unheralded power representing a transformative expansion of its regulatory authority in the vague language of a long-extant, but rarely used, statute designed as a gap filler. That discovery allowed it to adopt a regulatory program that Congress had conspicuously declined to enact itself.”

Think long and hard on that.  The Supreme Court just said the EPA has taken far too many liberties with its power, some of which the legislature has specifically avoided tackling.  What does that signal to you?  It sounds as if the Court is recognizing the ABUSE of regulatory power by federal agencies.  Larry writes further:

The role of the ATF and DOJ is to enforce the 1934 NFA and 1968 Gun Control Act. DOJ and ATF have the congressionally delegated authority to faithfully implement those laws through rulemaking. But that delegated authority doesn’t authorize them to change the law on their own to match advancements in technology or their view of good public policy.

Wowsers…  If ATF and DOJ are limited to enforcing ONLY items specifically authorized by Congress, all kinds of overreach will be revisited, potentially.  You should take a few moments and read Larry’s full article.  It is well written and articulated.  And it might make a big difference for us.  After all, ATF and DOJ are out of control and require restructuring and restriction.

In Liberty,

Michael Ware – IFC