Various stories reporting on ATF’s new rules on pistol brace owners.

Fox News, January 14, 2023

Republican lawmakers and gun rights groups blasted the Biden administration over a new rule that tightens regulations on pistol stabilizing braces.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives (ATF) finalized a new regulation Friday that will treat guns with stabilizing accessories like short-barreled rifles, which require a federal license to own under the National Firearms Act…

Gun Owners of America, which bills itself as the only “no-compromise” gun lobby in Washington, D.C., vowed to file a lawsuit challenging Biden’s new ATF regulation.

“This admin continues to find ways to attack gun owners. We will continue to work with our industry partners to amplify the disapproving voices in the firearms industry and [Gun Owners Foundation], our sister legal arm, will be filing suit in the near future,” said Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America.

“Pres. Biden just initiated the largest federal gun registration scheme in our nation’s history w/o even the passage of a new law. GOA is actively working with Congress to pass a resolution blocking this rule under the Congressional Review Act,” added the organization’s director of federal affairs, Aidan Johnston…

Read more at Fox News

Washington Times, January 13, 2023

The Justice Department has announced new regulations, including higher taxes and longer waiting periods, on braces that transform a pistol into a short-barreled rifle so it can fire faster.

Manufacturers, dealers and gun owners now have 120 days to register tax-free any stabilizing braces covered by the rule. The Justice Department also said Friday that they can surrender their stabilizing braces to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The new rule goes into effect once it is published in the Federal Register this week…

“This 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,” said Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America.

For decades, short-barreled rifles have been subject to strict regulations, including additional taxes, background checks for private transfers and other provisions. But stabilizing braces, which effectively transform pistols into short-barreled rifles, had not been affected by those rules…

Read more at the Washington Times

Breitbart, January 13, 2023

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) released its final rule on stabilizer braces Friday, noting that individuals in possession of said braces have 120 days to register them once the final rule appears in the Federal Register.

On January 13, 2023, the ATF announced that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland signed the final stabilizer brace rule.

Once the rule appears in the Federal Register, owners of AR pistols with stabilizer braces have 120 days to fulfill one of these five options:

Should individuals and FFLs be in possession of a firearm with an attached “stabilizing brace” such that the firearm  constitutes a firearm under the NFA [National Firearm Act] in addition to the GCA [Gun Control Act], the affected persons or FFLs will need to choose one of the following options.

The options presented in the final [rule] are:

• Scenario 1: Turn in the entire firearm with the attached “stabilizing brace” to ATF;
• Scenario 2: Destroy the whole firearm;
• Scenario 3: Convert the short-barreled rifle into a long-barreled rifle;
• Scenario 4: Apply to register the weapon under the NFA; or
• Scenario 5: Permanently remove and dispose of, or alter, the “stabilizing brace” from the firearm so that it cannot be reattached.

Gun Owners of America, which brought a successful lawsuit last month to block many of Oregon’s new gun controls, has already made clear a lawsuit against the ATF’s stabilizer brace rule will be forthcoming.

Gun Owners of America’s Erich Pratt said, ““This admin continues to find ways to attack gun owners. We will continue to work with our industry partners to amplify the disapproving voices in the firearms industry and Gun Foundation, our sister legal arm, will be filing suit in the near future.”

Read more at Breitbart

Cowboy State Daily, January 16, 2023

A federal ruling on firearms that would reclassify some popular AR-15 variants as “short-barreled rifles” could have sweeping implications for Wyoming gun owners, say a gun dealer and a gun rights advocate.

“It’s just one of those ridiculous things,” Lorrell Woolley, co-owner of Wyoming Minute Man Supply in Thayne, told Cowboy State Daily.

AR-15 pistols are popular with his customers, who frequently outfit them with pistol braces, or devices that allow them to be fired from the shoulder, Woolley said.

The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives on Friday announced a ruling to classify those ARs – as well as numerous other firearms outfitted with pistol braces – as “short-barreled rifles.”

Under the National Firearms Act of 1934, such firearms are subject tax stamps as well as other restrictions.

The ruling could put millions of gun owners at odds with the law, Mark Jones of Buffalo, director of hunter programs for Gun Owners of America, told Cowboy State Daily.

“This could require up to 40 million guns to be registered,” he said, adding that “(we) consider gun registration to be unconstitutional.”…

Read more at Cowboy State Daily