The Biden administration announced new firearm regulations on Friday that will go after firearm owners who want to purchase pistol stabilizing braces. Republicans and gun rights advocates are sharply criticizing the latest unconstitutional action that runs headlong against the Second Amendment.
Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a press statement that details the regulations on braces that allow users to shoulder pistols, which are then fired in the ordinary mechanical manner.
The DOJ has ordered all legal firearm manufacturers, dealers, and owners to register any “stabilizing brace” covered by the rule within 120 days. Otherwise, they are directed to surrender their property to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
Biden issued a press statement claiming the new regulation “will save lives.” He added the rule “will make it harder for individuals intending to inflict carnage to obtain these weapons.”
The federal government has long regulated firearms it defines as “short-barreled rifles,” with extra taxes, background checks for private transfers, and other restrictions. Braces that stabilize pistols have not previously been affected by those rules.
In announcing the new regulations, Attorney General Merrick Garland said, “Short-barreled rifles present a deadly combination: They are easier to conceal than rifles, but they are more powerful and lethal than pistols.” Of course, Garland ignored that nothing about a brace changes the power of a handgun or how it functions.
Stabilizing braces were first developed to help disabled combat veterans enjoy recreational shooting and defend themselves effectively.
Gun rights advocates, Republicans, and Constitutional experts swiftly hammered the new regulations that appear to clearly violate the Second Amendment and Supreme Court decisions.
ICYMI: The ATF’s Pistol Brace Rule dropped this afternoon. 😡
This new rule bans numerous popular firearms BY NAME. @JoeBiden just BANNED them without Congressional input.
Your options?
❌Register it
❌Destroy it
❌Turn it in— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) January 13, 2023
But wait! There's more.
This list has almost FORTY banned firearms that were legally purchased by law-abiding citizen that now require ATF registration.
Read more: https://t.co/dmZGIYewcr pic.twitter.com/L29yM30mR3
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) January 13, 2023
Gun Owners of America senior vice president Erich Pratt said the Biden administration “continues to find new ways to attack gun owners, and this time their target is brace-equipped firearms that allow persons with disabilities to safely and effectively use pistols.”
The organization’s director of federal affairs, Aidan Johnston, said that the administration has “initiated the largest federal gun registration scheme in our nation’s history without even the passage of a new law.”
Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) led a group of 140 lawmakers in writing a letter opposing the rule when it was first proposed. Their message said the rule “jeopardizes the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners and disabled combat veterans.”
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) tweeted: “The ATF’s announced rule on pistol braces today is nothing short of a massive executive branch-imposed gun registration and confiscation scheme. This is an unacceptable attack on the Second Amendment and law-abiding Americans.”
Federal officials have estimated there are around 3 million braces in the U.S. that will be subjected to the new regulations.
Litigation challenging the administrative rule is expected to ensue in federal courts around the country.
