“Renzulli Run Down” — The RLF Firearms and Shooting Sports Industry Newsletter
NEW MULTIPLE SALE REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR TYPE 07 AND TYPE 08 FFLs EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1, 2024
September 27, 2024 – ATF’s new reporting requirement for Type 07 and Type 08 FFLs located along the Southwestern border goes into effect Tuesday – October 1, 2024. Under the new requirement, if a manufacturer or importer located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, or Texas sells or transfers two or more semiautomatic rifles (that can…
NINTH CIRCUIT ISSUES DOUBLE-EDGED DECISION FOR FIREARM OWNERS IN CALIFORNIA AND HAWAII
September 16, 2024 – A recent ruling by a unanimous panel (3 judges) of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the Wolford v. Lopez case upheld in part two preliminary injunctions issued by the lower courts against location-specific concealed carry restrictions in California and Hawaii. The prohibitions on carrying firearms in places…
FEDERAL APPEALS COURT REINSTATES THE BAR ON ENFORCEMENT OF CALIFORNIA’S ONE GUN A MONTH LAW
August 21, 2024 – Through California Penal Code §§ 27535 and 27540, the California legislature enacted what is commonly called the California one-gun-a-month law (the “Law”). Up until the end of 2023, the Law prohibited individuals from applying to purchase more than one handgun or semiautomatic centerfire rifle within any thirty day period, with some exceptions. In 2024,…
NEW YORK CITY TO ALLOW NON-RESIDENTS TO APPLY FOR CONCEALED-CARRY PERMITS
August 15, 2024 – In response to ongoing litigation challenging the constitutionality of New York City’s law that non-residents of the State of New York are ineligible to obtain a concealed-carry permit, the New York Police Department (NYPD) issued an emergency rule. The rule allows non-residents to apply for a concealed carry permit, even if they…
MAINE’S 72-HOUR WAITING PERIOD FOR FIREARM PURCHASES GOES INTO EFFECT TODAY
On August 9, 2024, Public Law Chapter 678 will go into effect in Maine, requiring all firearm sellers to wait 72-hours before transferring a firearm to a buyer. The new waiting period runs from the time of an agreement “between a buyer and seller for the purchase and the sale of a firearm.” Advocates of the law…
LAWSUIT FILED CHALLENGING NEW LAWS PASSED IN MASSACHUSETTS
On July 25, 2024, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed into law a sweeping new gun control bill – H 4885. Titled “An Act Modernizing Firearms Laws,” the 116-page law implements a wide array of gun control measures, touching on everything from outright bans on certain firearms to magazine restrictions to new registration and licensing schemes. The…
FEDERAL COURT HOLDS MINIMUM AGE OF 21 FOR CARRY PERMIT TO BE UNCONSTITUTIONAL
July 22, 2024 – In Worth v. Jacobson, et al., the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently affirmed the decision from the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota striking down a section in the Minnesota Citizens’ Personal Protection Act of 2003 (“Carry Ban”), Minn. Stat. § 624.714, as unconstitutional. The…
US SUPREME COURT JUSTICE WARNS AGAINST LOWER COURT’S “NONSENSICAL” APPLICATION OF RULE BANNING “ASSAULT WEAPONS” & OTHER RECENT DECISIONS
July 12, 2024 – Last week, in Harrel v. Raoul, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a set of challenges to the Illinois “assault weapons” ban, however, it did so because the lower courts had yet to develop a full record due to the preliminary nature of those proceedings. Significantly, Justice Thomas issued a statement regarding the…
RLF DITCHES THEIR SUITS FOR THEIR ANNUAL “RANGE DAY”
Last week, we stepped out of the office and headed to the range. Our attorneys and staff enjoyed a day of shooting a variety of firearms, including handguns and rifles. Our session was led by prominent firearms trainer Emanuel Kapelsohn and his top-notch assistant trainers. Our “range day” is not only an opportunity for our…
CALIFORNIA DATA PRIVACY BREACH CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT ILLUSTRATES IMPORTANCE OF SAFEGUARDING CONSUMER DATA
June 27, 2024 – The security of consumer data is a major issue all around the globe. It impacts all businesses because all companies collect data from consumers in one way or another. The firearms industry is no exception. Whether it be through sales transactions, internet traffic, background checks, marketing activities or otherwise, firearms companies…
U.S. SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN ATF’S RULE BANNING BUMP STOCKS
On June 14, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision (“Opinion”) striking down the ATF’s Rule that banned bump stocks. Contrary to main-stream media’s accounts, the Supreme Court did not legalize machineguns last Friday. The Supreme Court merely upheld a bedrock principal of our form of government – Congress makes the laws and the Executive Branch…
FEDERAL COURT IN TEXAS GRANTS PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION PREVENTING ATF FROM ENFORCING NEW “ENGAGED IN THE BUSINESS” RULE
June 13, 2024 – As RLF previously reported, on April 19, 2024, the ATF published a Final Rule regarding the definition of “engaged in the business” as a firearms dealer. The Final Rule, which went into effect on May 20, 2024, significantly expands the definition of who is required to have a federal firearms license and who is…
COURT COMPELS INSURANCE COMPANY TO PROVIDE COVERAGE FOR SHOOTING RANGE SUICIDE LITIGATION
June 7, 2024 – A Delaware court recently ruled in favor of a shooting range, finding that its insurance liability policy covers claims arising from the range’s rental of a firearm. The court disagreed with the defendant insurance company that a “Rental of Sporting Equipment Exclusion” was permissible grounds to deny coverage under the policy.…
US SUPREME COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF NRA IN FIRST AMENDMENT DISPUTE WITH NEW YORK
May 30, 2024 – Today, in a unanimous decision written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the US Supreme Court revived the NRA’s lawsuit against the former superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services, Maria Vullo. In that case, the NRA alleged that she violated the NRA’s First Amendment rights by coercing insurance companies to terminate their business…
NEW FEDERAL BILL SEEKS TO BAN .50 CALIBER RIFLES, EXPAND MULTIPLE SALE REPORTS TO INCLUDE RIFLES, AND LIMIT PLCAA
May 23, 2024 – Three Democratic U.S. Representatives, with the endorsement of various anti-gun advocacy groups, have recently introduced a bill, the Stop Arming Cartels Act, that seeks to enact a multitude of new federal firearms laws. The Act would ban the import, sale, manufacture, transfer, or possession of .50 caliber rifles except for government agencies…
FEDERAL COURT PERMITS ENFORCEMENT OF NEW YORK LAW REQUIRING BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR AMMUNITION SALES
May 7, 2024 – On September 13, 2023, the New York State Firearms Association (“NYSFA”), a nonprofit that advocates for Second Amendment rights, and three individuals (including one state senator and one state assemblyman) filed a lawsuit in federal court against the superintendent of New York State Police challenging the validity of New York’s recent laws requiring…
HALF OF THE STATES JOIN THREE LAWSUITS AGAINST THE ATF’S EXPANDED DEFINITION OF ENGAGED IN THE BUSINESS
May 1, 2024 – As previously reported, the ATF published a Final Rule regarding the Definition of “Engaged in the Business” as a Dealer in Firearms in the Federal Register on April 19, 2024 (“Final Rule”). The Final Rule, which is scheduled to go into effect on May 20, 2024, greatly expands the definition of…
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ENACTS NEW RESTRICTIONS ON THE EXPORT OF FIREARMS
April 30, 2024 – On October 27, 2023, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) announced that it was temporarily pausing all firearm exports to non-governmental end-users except for those located in Israel, Ukraine, and most of the Wassenaar Arrangement countries. That “temporary” pause was subsequently extended. Today, BIS published an Interim…
TENNESSEE SENATE PASSES BILL ALLOWING EDUCATORS AND SCHOOL STAFF TO CARRY FIREARMS
On April 24, 2024, the Tennessee House passed Senate Bill 135, authorizing trained teachers and staff to carry firearms on school grounds. According to the bill, the director of schools, school principal, and chief of the local law enforcement agency for the school district each must sign off on the teacher’s or staff member’s authority…
CONGRESS MAKES ANOTHER ATTEMPT AT A FEDERAL PRIVACY BILL
April 19, 2024 – Earlier this month, the U.S. Congress unexpectedly released a draft of the American Privacy Rights Act, (“APRA”), a bipartisan, bicameral federal privacy bill. Privacy laws have enormous potential impact upon the everyday activities of businesses in the firearms industry. The requirements they impose relate to all information and data that is…
ATF CHANGES THE DEFINITION OF “ENGAGED IN THE BUSINESS” AS A DEALER IN FIREARMS
April 11, 2024 – As Renzulli Law Firm previously reported, in August 2023, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued a notice and request for comments relating to proposed amendments to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (“ATF”) regulations for the purpose of implementing the provisions of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (“BSCA”), which…
VIRGINIA GOVERNOR VETOES PROPOSED FIREARM LEGISLATION
On March 27, 2024, Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia vetoed multiple anti-gun bills passed by the Virginia legislature, including HB 2, which would have prohibited the sale, purchase, import or manufacture of so-called “assault firearms” and “large capacity feeding devices” in Virginia. The bill defined “large capacity feeding device,” as any “magazine, belt, drum, feed…
RENZULLI LAW FIRM ACHIEVES DISMISSAL FOR FIREARM MANUFACTURER
March 21, 2024 – In 2019, an employee of a company in California shot and killed another employee using a semi-automatic pistol manufactured by one of RLF’s clients. The family of the victim sued the shooter, the employer, and the manufacturer of the pistol. RLF immediately moved to dismiss the case based on the federal…
INDIANA ENACTS LEGISLATION TO END THE CITY OF GARY’S EFFORTS TO REGULATE THE FIREARMS INDUSTRY THROUGH LITIGATION
On March 15, 2024, Governor Eric Holcomb signed into law Indiana House Enrolled Act 1235 (“HEA 1235”), which seeks to put an end to the City of Gary’s decades long lawsuit against members of the firearms industry. Despite the firearms industry already being heavily regulated by the federal government, some local municipalities have, over the…