There’s a lot going on at the 2025 National Shooting Sports Foundation Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Show®! The SHOT Show is normally known for guns and gear, but attendees include some of the biggest movers and shakers in the Second Amendment world. We had a chance to sit down and talk with Cody Wisisniewski, the president of the Firearms Policy Coalition Action Foundation. We bent Wisniewski’s ear on Tuesday afternoon about a recent lawsuit challenging prohibitions on interstate pistol purchases, what to expect with the new administration, and more!

On Monday, January 20, 2025, the Action Foundation filed a suit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The case, Elite Precision Customs v. ATF “challeng[es] federal laws prohibiting licensed firearm dealers from selling handguns to out-of-state buyers.” 

“The thing that everybody’s talking about that happened yesterday [on January 20] is we filed a federal lawsuit challenging the interstate handgun purchase ban,” Wisniewski said during the interview. “As most people will know, for those that don’t right now, it is illegal for you to buy a handgun from an FFL outside of your state of residence. It’s illegal for an FFL to transfer a handgun to you if you’re not a resident of that state. It’s a federal ban that’s been around for some time. And so we filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas challenging the law.”

The matter of interstate handgun purchases has been approached in the past. Former challenges to the 1968 law were done, and Wisniewski discussed the flawed methodology that was used in a post-Heller world.

Wisniewski had the following to say about the case:

What’s clear here is Texas court’s Fifth Circuit has actually reviewed this law before, but they did so under the prior test that was being applied. This was after Heller, there’s this two step test that a bunch of circuits around the country were using. It was wrong, but when Bruen came out, Bruen made clear that all gun ordinances, gun laws, are to be examined at text, as informed by history. And so when the Fifth Circuit looked at this law before they upheld the law, but it was under that flawed two step test. We are confident, based on our knowledge and review of history, the Bruen standard and even things that were addressed before that, we have a really good chance of victory here.

Now that there’s a second Trump administration in the Whitehouse, it’s assumed the Second Amendment is in safer hands than it was just days ago. There’s a lot of unfinished business concerning existing challenges to U.S. law and rules by the ATF. The armbrace ban is one such challenge that’s still pending since the executive branch changed hands.

Wisniewski said that he’ll take a win in any capacity the Foundation gets, whether it’s through further rulemaking, but naturally, a win in court with precedent would be a good thing.

“We still have a pending lawsuit that’s over the pistol brace ban,” Wisniewski explained. “And so there are several opportunities for the administration to show exactly the positions that it’s going to take in these cases. And look, if we have to litigate it tooth and nail from day one to the Supreme Court, we’ll do that. I have no problem doing that. That’s a bunch of fun.”

Wisniewski seems fairly confident that the Foundation will be able to have the law declared unconstitutional and enjoin the government from enforcing a law that’s unconstitutional. He said that if such an enjoinment is the outcome, that’d be a victory. 

As far as some of the other pending lawsuits that are out there, Wisniewski says all eyes are on the Snope case. Should the High Court take Snope, that’s going to be driving the bus in part on how these lower courts approach other hardware bans such as the Massachusetts roster.

“If you have the Supreme Court that steps in and says, ‘Hey, you can’t ban things that are protected under the Second Amendment and don’t follow history,’ which means things that are in common use, then all of those things that are not on the roster that are in common use would all also fall under that precedent,” Wisniewski stated. “There’s a few roster cases. They’re all kind of ping-ponging around. There’s a lot of this.”

Before closing out the conversation, Wisniewski gave a rundown on everything FPC and where everyone can get more information:

You can go to firearmspolicy.org, you can see all of our work, all of our cases. You can join FPC there. Support that way. FPC Action Foundation, we’re basically like the legal action arm. We’re a 501C(3), we’re a different organization, but we manage and oversee FPC law. I’m a litigator by trade. I started out in courtrooms, all of FPC’s active cases, we oversee. We make sure that there’s strategic consistency across the country. Two different organizations, FPC, you can see at firearmspolicy.org. Action foundation, fpcactionfoundation.org. And then, of course, follow FPC on all the socials, which is @gunpolicy. That’s where all the fun spiciness is.

We’re grateful that FPC Action Foundation President Cody Wisniewski took the time out of his day to chat with us about the latest and greatest. If you’re interested in catching the interview in full, you can view it HERE or in the embed below.