The regulation, O'Kelly wrote, pertained mainly to a part found in manually operated weapons such as revolvers and pump action shotguns. Federal prosecutors in Ohio had charged two men, Richard Rowold and Steven Robison , with conspiring to illegally purchase more than four dozen AR-15 lower receivers. Prosecutors, as they had in earlier cases, acknowledged that AR-15 lower receivers did not perfectly fit the definition in the relevant federal code. To rule that an AR-15 lower receiver was not a receiver would be "manifestly incompatible" with Congress' intent, they argued. He told the judge that, legally, lower receivers were no more subject to ATF regulation than "a lamp shade, for example," but that the agency had insisted otherwise for decades.

Source: CNN February 07, 2020 11:03 UTC