The Biden administration’s Department of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had instated a rule requiring owners of legally bought pistol braces to register them with the agency, and that rule was within days of taking effect on June 1, 2023.
The rule imposes federal felony charges on any pistol brace owner who refuses to register them, reports said. The advancing deadline for individuals to either register their pistol braces with the ATF, dispose of them, or remove them from their firearms horrified those who applaud Second Amendment rights. The impending rule would impose up to 10 years imprisonment, a $10,000 fine, or a combination of both, for those who refuse to comply, Fox News reported.
But a federal appeals court judge has intervened, halting the progress of the rule.
Judge Drew B. Tipton of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit against the new rule filed by Gun Owners of America (GOA), the Gun Owners Foundation, and the State of Texas.
Tipton’s order is in response to a recent ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in a comparable case. That court’s ruling prevented the ATF from enforcing the rule against plaintiffs, including customers of Maxim Defense Industries, a manufacturer of pistol stabilizing braces, and the Firearms Policy Coalition, Conservative Brief reports.
Conservative Brief noted:
The key distinction between these two cases lies in the involvement of a non-private entity, namely the State of Texas, as a party in the lawsuit. Former Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton submitted a motion for a preliminary injunction against the ATF, asserting that the pistol-brace rule would impose compliance costs on Texas law enforcement officers who possess handguns with stabilizing braces, which were previously legal.
The appeals court decision came just days before the deadline for individuals to either register their pistol braces with the ATF, dispose of them, or remove them from their firearms. Should the rule eventually prevail, however, failure to comply could result in up to 10 years imprisonment, a $10,000 fine, or a combination of both, Fox News reported.
Fox News noted further:
The stabilizing brace rule was introduced as part of the comprehensive gun crime strategy Biden announced in April 2021 in response to the massacre at a grocery store in Boulder, Colo., where a gunman used a firearm with a stabilizing brace to kill 10 people. In 2019, another mass murderer used a stabilizing brace in a shooting in Dayton, Ohio, that killed nine people.
ATF defines stabilizing braces as an accessory “that provides a surface area that allows the weapon to be fired from the shoulder, so long as other factors that indicate that the firearm is designed, made, and intended to be fired from the shoulder.”
The ATF’s rule, established on January 13, classifies pistols equipped with stabilizing braces as short-barreled rifles. These firearms fall under stricter regulations by Congress due to their combination of accuracy and concealability, which can pose a significant danger when in the wrong hands.
The suppression of firearms rights has been a Democrat platform, as misuse of firearms by individuals are blamed on the entire industry. Biden and his administration have accused the gun industry of trying to bypass federal regulations by selling stabilizing braces, alleging that they can “essentially convert a pistol into a short-barreled rifle.”
According to the ATF, there are at least three million firearms equipped with stabilizing braces in circulation within the United States. However, estimates provided by the Congressional Research Service suggest that the current number of stabilizing braces in circulation ranges between 10 million and 40 million.
Gun rights organizations have presented arguments in court asserting that the rule concerning the braces unconstitutionally requires millions of gun owners to register their firearms or potentially face criminal charges. Braces are used for a variety of reasons by sportsmen, and the result of the rule of having gun owners register in addition to registrations already in place flies in the face of Second Amendment rights, conservatives say.
Tipton’s injunction specifically extends to individuals who are employed directly by the state of Texas or its agencies, as well as all members of Gun Owners of America, making his action a halt to the rule for all.
Gun Owners of America Vice-President Eric Pratt stated, “This assault on millions of Americans is just the latest example of President Biden trying to weaponize the DOJ against law-abiding gun owners. We doubt it will be the last,” The Texan News reported.
“We are incredibly grateful to Judge Tipton for hearing the pleas of our members who were facing serious prosecution simply for woning a piece of plastic – all because of an arbitrary reclassification by the [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.”
The Texan noted that for years, the federal government has OK’d the pistol braces, affirming that firearms with them attached do not constitute SBR’s. Biden’s rule reverses that stance.
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