The Department of Justice is drafting a new ATF rule defining firearm frames and receivers to replace the Biden-era 2022 regulation, reversing its position from less than a week earlier when it told lawyers in pending litigation that the existing rule would stay in place.

The new position was communicated to plaintiffs' counsel in VanDerStok v. Bondi in the Northern District of Texas and Defense Distributed v. Bondi, according to Ammoland, which cited sources close to the litigation. DOJ has asked the courts to maintain existing stays in both cases while the rewrite is prepared. No public timeline for a proposed rule has been released.

Seal of the United States Department of Justice

According to the Ammoland report, the replacement is expected to mirror the core structure of 2022's Final Rule 2021R-05F — the regulation that expanded the statutory definitions of "frame" and "receiver" and pulled a wide range of partially completed firearm components into serialization and dealer licensing requirements — with targeted adjustments aimed at the overbreadth concerns raised in VanDerStok. Polymer frames of the kind produced by Polymer80 would remain covered. Certain metal parts that do not meet the "readily" convertible threshold, Ammoland reported, may fall outside the scope of the new rule.

That structural continuity is what has Second Amendment organizations pushing back hardest. Gun Owners of America, which has fought the frames rule since it was first proposed, posted that the Trump DOJ had "decided to ADOPT Biden's anti-gun rule that heavily restricts homemade firearms," according to Ammoland. Firearms Policy Coalition and the Second Amendment Foundation have taken similar lines, arguing that partial revisions to the 2022 framework leave the core constitutional problem intact.

The litigation backdrop is unusual. In March 2025 the Supreme Court upheld the 2022 frames rule 7-2 in VanDerStok v. Garland, with Justice Neil Gorsuch writing for the majority that the rule was consistent with the statutory text of the Gun Control Act. That holding did not resolve every as-applied challenge, and the remanded cases have remained in stays while DOJ worked out its policy direction under the current administration.

With the rewrite now confirmed, the industry is watching two things. The first is the text of the proposed rule whenever it publishes to the Federal Register, since the scope of the "readily" convertible language and the treatment of specific kit products like JSD Supply's MUP-1 will determine whether the rewrite is a meaningful rollback or a branding change. The second is DOJ's posture toward the related "Engaged in the Business" regulation, which the Department moved to drop its Fifth Circuit defense of earlier in April. Together, the two rules define much of the ATF's expanded footprint over kit guns, private sellers, and parts commerce.

In the interim, the 2022 rule remains in force. Licensed dealers, kit makers, and 80% manufacturers are still operating under the existing definitions of frame and receiver while the rewrite is prepared.