ATF’s Pistol Brace Rule is Officially Dead - #2A
We've Waited Way Too Long For the Demise of an Absolutely STUPID Rule!
The United States Federal Government has finally entered into a legal agreement on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF’s) “Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached Stabilizing Braces” rule, marking the official end of the rule.
The settlement was in the case of Mock v. Bondi (formerly known as Mock v. Garland), which was filed by the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) and Maxim Defense against the DOJ and ATF. The suit challenged the legality of the pistol stabilizing brace rule. The plaintiffs claimed that the rule violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). The APA is a law that governs the creation of federal regulations through the rule-making process.
After former President Joe Biden took office, he ordered the ATF to reconsider its stance on pistols equipped with stabilizing braces. For years, the ATF considered pistols equipped with braces as Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA) firearms, meaning that they could be transferred or owned like any other GCA gun. President Biden wanted these firearms to be regulated like National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) items. That would require registering the firearm with the ATF, submitting fingerprints and photos, engraving the gun, and paying a $200 tax stamp fee.
After being ordered by Biden to change the rules, the ATF unveiled a proposed rule. The proposed rule included Worksheet 4999. Worksheet 4999 was a point system to help gun owners know if their pistols with stabilizing braces were viewed as short-barreled rifles (SBRs) by the ATF. An SBR is a rifle with a barrel less than 16 inches. Hundreds of thousands of comments were submitted by…