It made no difference that the ATF gave a public comment period before instituting its ban on stabilizing braces. Although the vast majority of responses were against the proposed ruling, the ATF went ahead and did it anyway. It’s also true that mass shootings are rarely perpetrated by someone using a stabilizing brace. Disabled veterans and regular citizens on the other hand, use them all the time to help them fire their weapons for competitions and pleasure. The Biden administration doesn’t care. So Rep Matt Gaetz introduced HR 374 – The Abolish the ATF Act.
Asinine and doubtful it survives a court fight, especially when the ridiculous bumpstock rule did not. https://t.co/LEyAQ4xnuM
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) January 14, 2023
Matt Gaetz introduced a bill to abolish the ATF after they issued their final rule on the braces Friday (HR 374).
“I have a lot of disabled veterans in my district who enjoy pistol shooting and rely on stabilizing braces to be able to engage in the activity. The recent actions from the ATF essentially allow them to make case-by-case determinations on whether a pistol with a stabilizing brace is legal or an unlawful, sawed-off shotgun.”
“The continued existence of the ATF is increasingly unwarranted based on the actions they’re taking to convert otherwise law-abiding people into felons. My bill would abolish the ATF. If that doesn’t work, we’re going to try defunding the ATF. If that doesn’t work, we’re going to target the individual bureaucrats at the top of the ATF who have exceeded their authority in rulemaking. And if that doesn’t work, we’re going to take a meat cleaver to the statutes that the ATF believes broadly authorize their actions.”
“The people at the ATF making these rules fundamentally don’t understand firearms…I think they are under the flawed conception that a stabilizing brace increases the lethality or danger of a pistol. It seems the ATF is on a snipe hunt for regulatory action that virtue signals to the anti-gun left, but that has no real practical safety impact on Americans.” Matt Gaetz (R-FL)
The rule states (hint: the ruling was released Friday, Jan 13):
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
The rule outlines the factors ATF would consider when evaluating firearms equipped with a purported “stabilizing brace” (or other rearward attachment) to determine whether these weapons would be considered a “rifle” or “short-barreled rifle” under the Gun Control Act of 1968, or a “rifle” or “firearm” subject to regulation under the National Firearms Act. The rule’s amended definition of “rifle” clarifies that the term “designed, redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder” includes a weapon that is equipped with an accessory, component, or other rearward attachment (e.g., a “stabilizing brace”) that provides surface area that allows the weapon to be fired from the shoulder, provided other factors, as listed in the definition, indicate the weapon is designed and intended to be fired from the shoulder.
This rule does not affect “stabilizing braces” that are objectively designed and intended as a “stabilizing brace” for use by individuals with disabilities, and not for shouldering the weapon as a rifle. Such stabilizing braces are designed to conform to the arm and not as a buttstock. However, if the firearm with the “stabilizing brace” is a short-barreled rifle, it needs to be registered within 120-days from the date of publication in the Federal Register.
The ATF having oversight to determine whether a stabilizing brace is under the NFA or not is ridiculous. If they decide it is, the owner will have to register it and pay a “tax” on it. Who determines that is the issue- and the ATF being part of the anti-gun Biden administration is the key.
“ATF thinks their rule is law, but it isn’t. Also I’m not registering a thing.” Dana Loesch on Twitter
***
Related:
- Pistol Braces- an Update on the ATF Proposal
- DOJ Unveiled Proposal for Restrictions on Gun Braces, And a Model for Red Flag Laws
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