Today, the Texas Public Policy Foundation challenged the Biden Administration’s continuing war against lawful gun owners, announcing a new lawsuit seeking to block the unconstitutional Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (“ATF”) rule regarding stabilizing braces.
Stabilizing braces are a common accessory that allows individuals—particularly those with disabilities—to fire a pistol accurately and safely. For years, the government has recognized these accessories as legal.
But the Biden administrations’ new rule claims that installing a simple pistol brace converts a pistol into an unlawful “short-barreled rifle.” In doing so, the new rule effectively turns millions of law-abiding Americans into criminals overnight and requires them to take steps, such as registering their pistols with the federal government, in order to avoid prosecution and a potential ten-year prison sentence.
“The Department of Justice cannot rewrite federal statutes by bureaucratic diktat and decide to turn millions of law-abiding Americans into criminals guilty of a felony,” said TPPF Senior Attorney Autumn Hamit Patterson. “The Constitution gives Congress—not executive agencies—the legislative power to amend laws.”
“The regulations encroach on Americans’ right to keep and bear arms,” said Clayton Calvin, attorney for TPPF. “It is especially troublesome that ATF decided to target pistols equipped with stabilizing braces when those braces were designed to help disabled veterans shoot large pistols more safely.”
“Unfortunately, this is yet another example of the executive branch trying to get policy outcomes through bureaucratic rule-making that it knows it couldn’t get through Congress,” said Litigation Director Chance Weldon. “Once again, it will be the courts that have to stop this overreach.”
To view the full complaint, please click here.