The ATF is at it again. Despite serious legal challenges to their so-called “Final Rule” on Frames and Receivers, coupled with the Bump Stock ban being declared unconstitutional, they just dropped the long-awaited Final Rule on Stabilizing Braces, aka pistol braces.
We haven’t had time to read all 293 pages, since they released it this afternoon when the firearms media is packing for SHOT Show (think that’s a coincidence?). But the upshot is that all pistol braces will now be regulated under the National Firearms Act (NFA) since they supposedly corrupt otherwise innocent pistols and turn them into those evil short-barreled rifle things.
Everyone who owns one of these items that once were alright, but suddenly not, has 120 days to register them with the ATF. The $200 tax stamp is being waived during that time. Mighty big of the Fedbois, there, considering they are potentially turning millions of lawful gun owners into felons by changing their minds. Again.
Joe Biden’s Gun Control Agenda
This is but the latest in a string of executive actions targeting lawful gun owners. And an executive action it certainly is since the ATF is governed by the Justice Department, which, in turn, takes its orders from the White House. That Joe Biden is the most anti-gun president in American history cannot be argued. He has been unable to push his gun control agenda through Congress, so he’s followed the trend of earlier presidents by using executive agencies like the ATF to get it done.
Donald Trump did it with bump stocks and Biden has done it with frames and receivers (so-called “ghost guns”) and now with pistol braces. Even famously anti-gun Barack Obama wasn’t so brazen. In each case, the ATF has shown itself to be a political tool of the White House instead of a fair and impartial entity of law enforcement.
This is a dangerous precedent since, through the rule-making process, ATF is making federal law, defining its parameters, and implementing enforcement guidelines. All from an unaccountable, unelected group of bureaucrats directed by officials who are explicitly not granted legislative authority by the Constitution.
Legal Challenges
Legal challenges are already in the works. It’s well known that several Second Amendment groups have prepared lawsuits and were waiting for the rule to drop. Judging by recent developments in the bump stock and frames and receivers challenges, ATF will be accused of usurping Congressional authority by issuing rules that carry the weight of federal law.
They will also likely be charged with violating the Administrative Procedures Act by arbitrarily overturning their previous positions on pistol braces. In other words, pistol braces were legal until they weren’t, and the only reasons given are ambiguous assertions of “public safety” by Biden’s subordinates.
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, in ruling the bump stock ban unconstitutional, expressed alarm at ATF’s abrupt reversals and assumption of powers reserved to Congress. That decision will no doubt influence how this rule will be adjudicated.
Propaganda
Of course, the perpetrators spouted their usual talking points about the dangers posed by pistol braces and how they endanger the public. ATF Director Steve Dettelbach, who has proven himself more than willing to be Biden’s political hatchet man, said that “This rule enhances public safety and prevents people from circumventing the laws Congress passed almost a century ago. In the days of Al Capone, Congress said back then that short-barreled rifles and sawed-off shotguns should be subjected to greater legal requirements than most other guns.”
Never mind that examination of Congressional testimony while the NFA was being debated shows that it was designed as a tax to ensure that most people couldn’t afford certain items, making its Constitutionality shaky at best. Then-Attorney General Homer S. Cummings said that he knew they couldn’t just ban certain items because of Constitutional questions. We expect the NFA to eventually be challenged on those grounds, but we digress.
Either way, Dettelbach ignores the fact that the ATF has said for years that pistol braces are not NFA items. Only when the Biden Administration could not achieve its radical gun control goals did ATF, pressured by the White House, suddenly change its mind, just as it did with bump stocks and unfinished frames and receivers.
The media is also trumpeting how the rule will “boost gun safety.” We read at least one story where the “journalists” implied that braces magically turn handguns into rifles. It’s just ridiculous, but that’s the state of media propaganda.
Moving Forward
Lawsuits will certainly be filed next week asking for injunctive relief. We’ll see how that goes. We’re almost relieved that the rule has finally been published so the legal challenges can go ahead. Almost. Better that the government would respect their citizens’ rights, but that’s a fantasy at this point. Biden is rabidly anti-gun, and his subordinates, particularly Dettelbach and Attorney General Merrick Garland, are perfectly willing to go along.
If you own a pistol brace, only you can decide whether to comply or not. But keep in mind that, unless and until the rule is declared unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court, you will face the penalties of violating the NFA if you’re caught. I say the Supreme Court because, even if lower courts rule against them, the government will appeal the decision. Using your tax dollars, of course. You decide.
We will keep you updated on this story as it develops.
