Justice Department Reviews ATF Sporting Purposes Import Test

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated during an April 29 press conference that the Justice Department is reviewing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sporting purposes test for firearm imports. The test originated under the Gun Control Act of 1968. For roughly two decades it primarily restricted handgun imports through factoring criteria on Form 4590.

1989 the ATF blocked imports of semiautomatic rifles resembling military models including the AK-47, FN FAL, Heckler and Koch G3, and Steyr AUG. The agency expanded the restrictions in 1998 to cover rifles accepting standard military magazines. Blanche said ATF is determining which rifles qualify as suitable for sporting purposes and that the review will continue over several months.

Constitutional attorney Stephen Halbrook told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the sporting purposes test violates the Second Amendment under Supreme Court precedents. "Limitation of the import of firearms to those the government decides are particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes violates the Second Amendment," Halbrook said.

Halbrook outlined a potential lawsuit in which a licensed importer would apply to import specific semiautomatic rifles, face denial, and then sue claiming a Second Amendment violation. ATF and the Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.