Joint Statement on BATF Litigation, November 2, 2004 November 3, 2004 Web posted at: 1:03 PM EST
(ROL Newswire) -- ROL has received the following joint statement from NAR and TRA:
This message will outline the results of the October 15, 2004 hearing in U. S. District Court in Washington, DC, before Judge Reggie Walton and next steps in our legal effort to remove unnecessary, and we believe illegal, regulation of the sport rocketry hobby.
Judge Walton declined to grant our requests for action that would rule on the law in the context of "briefings on status", without additional filings (See NAR Website for a copy of the ruling). He did so because he felt a substantive ruling on the ATF's 1994 letter was "not properly before the Court." Judge Walton made no comments during the hearing particular to our requests, and the resulting order clearly takes no legal position on the specific issues raised by the ATF's publication of "Questions and Answers - Hobby Rocket Motors". This was obviously not the desired outcome, but we are not discouraged by it. Instead, we examined our next steps in accordance with the judge's instructions, and identified appropriate options.
After reviewing these options with counsel, we have taken two steps to further our case to secure an unregulated future for sport rocketry.
First, we will initiate an appeal on Count 1 of the lawsuit. An appeal of Count 1 is consistent with strategic directions that we carefully considered for several months. Count 1 argued that APCP does not function by explosion and is therefore not subject to BATFE regulation. BATFE won their motion for summary judgment on this count, but counsel advised we have strong grounds for appeal. In order to pursue such an appeal, we have filed a motion to separate Count 1 from the remainder of the litigation in order to proceed. You can read the text of this motion here.
If the Court approves the motion, we can proceed immediately to appeal Count 1. If the Court denies the motion, we will have to wait for all elements of the current litigation to complete before we can undertake an appeal of this or any other counts.
Secondly, on October 28, 2004, we filed a motion seeking to amend the current litigation to incorporate directly the issues the Court indicated were not yet properly before it. You can read the text of this motion to expand the litigation at the NAR website.
The next scheduled action on our case is a planned December 17, 2004 status hearing before Judge Walton.
Finally, we have received input from members around two particular subjects: (a) the lapse of time between the October 15 hearing and this announcement, and (b) what support members can provide to assist the legal effort.
We withheld immediate response from the October 15 hearing because we wanted to completely review legal options around the Court's most recent order and report to our respective Boards. After reviewing and discussing those options, it was clear our counsel needed more time to complete the necessary filings to support our response. We wanted both the legal review and the filings to be complete before issuing this joint statement. We realize this delay may be frustrating for members, but we felt a more complete report would serve more members better than a faster report on the hearing outcome alone.
Members can do two things to assist our legal work.
First, we again strongly recommend that members in the field report in detail any actions taking by ATF personnel in the field, particularly if they use the ATF's "Questions and Answers" as the basis for their action.
Forward to either of us the dates, times, names and offices involved, along with a complete description of your experience. Be factual and complete in your message. If we need additional information, we'll contact members individually.
Secondly, we again urge members to consider donating to the Legal Fund.
It is clear from this most recent set of ATF actions in the field that only court or Congressional pressure will move the agency to change its behavior. We need your continued financial support to make that change happen. We estimate the remaining legal work on both the litigation and appeal will take approximately $100,000 over the next two years. Please donate today in whatever amount you possibly can. And thanks for your assistance to date.
As we have further developments, we'll continue to report them here and in our publications.
Mark B. Bundick, President National Association of Rocketry
Ken Good, President Tripoli Rocketry Association
Source: NAR & TRA joint statement