The tyrannical Obiden Regime remains determined not to let the U.S. Constitution stop its war on law-abiding gun owners.
Not satisfied with last year’s gun control victory—with the aid of 14 Republican sell-outs—the Regime’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) unveiled a rule which will criminalize millions of law-abiding gun owners.
The Reload’s Stephen Gutowski reported that the agency plans to reclassify pistol braces, a highly popular gun accessory, in a way which would ban them unless registered with the ATF. Anyone who refuses to comply could face up to ten years in prison.
So a person who wants to keep a gun with a pistol brace will have to participate in a federal gun registry or go to jail. Is there any question the Regime would utilize this registry to harass these gun owners in several ways?
The ATF previously ruled such braces were completely legal. Yet the Regime’s ATF will simply dare the courts to stop their assault on Americans and the Constitution.
From The Reload:
Millions of Americans face the threat of federal felony charges over guns they purchased legally thanks to a new rule released by the ATF.
The agency announced plans to publish the final version of their rule reclassifying pistol braces, a popular firearm accessory, on Friday. The rule, which [the Obiden Regime] requested as part of his efforts to unilaterally reform gun laws, would effectively ban the use of braces unless registered with the ATF. Anyone who does not comply with the rule could be subject to upwards of ten years in federal prison despite the agency previously ruling the braces were legal multiple times over the past decade.
The rule has wide-ranging implications for many American gun owners as pistol braces have exploded in popularity since the ATF first determined they did not convert pistols into heavily-regulated short-barrel rifles back in 2012. The exact number of braces already in circulation is unclear, but the number is well into the millions. The ATF itself estimates three to seven million of the devices exist. The Congressional Research Service puts the number much higher at somewhere between 10 and 40 million.
The [Obiden Regime’s] decision to move forward with the ban comes after hundreds of thousands of comments opposing the regulation were left during its public comment period. It also comes in the immediate aftermath of the Fifth Circuit ruling against the Trump-era bump stock ban. That policy was implemented through the same rulemaking process and after the ATF had also previously declared bump stocks to fall outside the NFA’s purview, which could foreshadow legal problems for the new pistol brace rule.
The agency says that nearly everyone with a pistol-brace-equipped gun is:
[V]iolating the NFA by possessing an unregistered rifle with a barrel of less than 16 inches.
The ATF said in the rule:
While firearms equipped with ‘stabilizing braces’ or other rearward attachments may be submitted to ATF for a new classification determination, a majority of the existing firearms equipped with a ‘stabilizing brace’ are likely to be classified as ‘rifles’ because they are configured for shoulder fire based on the factors described in this rule.
Because many of these firearms generally have a barrel of less than 16 inches, they are likely to be classified as short-barreled rifles subject to regulation and registration under the [National Firearms Act (NFA)] and [Gun Control Act].
Gun rights groups from Gun Owners of America to The Second Amendment Foundation have vowed to fight this new rule in Court. But even if they succeed, what is to stop the Regime from simply creating a similar one or ignoring the courts altogether?
American gun owners across the country must not register their pistol braces and give in to this power grab. The Regime cannot effectively target gun owners if all refuse to comply.