Aposhian v. Barr
Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · No. 19-4036 · 973 F.3d 1151
⚖️Procedural — no merits ruling
Rehearing-en-banc order dismissing the grant as improvidently granted; the en banc court decided no merits question itself.
GunMapUSA assessment of the outcome's direction, not a statement that the court decided rightly or wrongly.
What the court held
W. Clark Aposhian brought a pre-enforcement challenge to the ATF Final Rule classifying bump stocks as machineguns under the National Firearms Act, and sought a preliminary injunction; the district court denied it and a panel affirmed in a May 7, 2020 opinion that found 26 U.S.C. 5845(b) ambiguous and deferred to ATF under Chevron. The Tenth Circuit had granted rehearing en banc on September 4, 2020, but in this March 5, 2021 order a majority of the en banc court voted to vacate that grant as improvidently granted. The order therefore vacates the rehearing grant, reinstates the panel opinion, directs the clerk to reissue the judgment, and denies the pending motions for leave to file amicus briefs. Chief Judge Tymkovich and Judges Hartz, Holmes, Eid and Carson dissented, arguing the court should have decided the Chevron and statutory-definition questions.
Summarized from the court's opinion.
What this case is about
ATF rule reclassifying bump stocks as machineguns under the National Firearms Act
GunMapUSA summary of the issue, not a quotation from the court.
Key Dates
- 2021-03-05 — Controlling decision
- 2020-09-04 — Decided
Sources
- CourtListener — retrieved 2026-08-08
Summary of public court records. Not legal advice.