According to gun rights advocates, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has recently issued a final rule regarding pistol brace. This could make millions of gun owners felons if they do not comply with the new requirements.
Jan.’s rule will nullify all previous guidance regarding pistol braces. Instead, the ATF will redefine “rifle” to include any weapon “designed, redesigned, made, or remade and intended to fire from the shoulder.” This will force many pistol brace owners, including disabled pistol brace users, to register their pistols with the federal government as short barrel rifles. Gun owners who have pistol braces can adjust the barrel to 16 inches or more, and file a Form 1 to make the pistol a SBR. The firearm must be surrendered or destroyed.
Alan M. Gottlieb, Executive Vice President of Second Amendment Foundation, told Daily Caller News Foundation that ATF is currently in “confiscation mode”.
He said that if you don’t register your gun within a specified time and pay the $200 tax, the gun can be destroyed, turned in, or converted with a new barrel. According to Gun Owners of America (GOA), there are between 10 and 40 million pistol-braced gun owners in the United States.
This rule changes the classification of pistol braces to SBRs. Gun owners who choose to keep their guns as they are will have to pay $200 for the government tax stamp required under the National Firearms Act.
According to The Federalist, although the ATF stated that they could waive the fee, they don’t have the authority. Owners of pistol braces will have to follow one of the ATF’s options, or they could face up to 10 year imprisonment and a possible $10,000 fine.
According to the rule, pistol brace owners who wish to remove their brace from their firearm will have to destroy it so that it can be reinstalled. According to the National Rifle Association, (NRA), the ATF does not have authority to regulate braces that are separate from firearms.
Gottlieb claims that the ATF has implemented a new restrictive list of gun owners requirements, and may have also violated proper procedure in creating their own definitions of “rifle” or SBR.
“They don’t really have the authority to create these definitions. They didn’t get that authority from Congress. He stated that Congress had defined firearms, and the ATF does not have that authority. Gun owners in the United States are at risk if the ATF makes its own decisions based on their feelings.
Gottlieb pointed out that gun owners are particularly targeted by the Biden administration. He said the administration is using the ATF to implement its control regulations, rather than going through Congress to pass laws.
“In this instance, you are facing more than gun control regulations. He continued, “It’s gun confiscation laws.”
According to a letter to U.S. attorney general Merrick Garland, 48 GOP senators gathered to protest the gun brace and rifle classifications.
The senators stated in a letter that the proposed rule was worse than abdicating responsibility to protect Americans against criminals. They also warned that the law-abiding Americans would be turned into criminals by imposing one of the most extensive executive-initiated gun registrations and confiscation programs in American history.
