WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) and more than 40 Republican senators introduced a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to prevent the Biden Administration’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from enforcing an anti-Second Amendment pistol brace rule.
“The Biden Administration is out of line trying to enforce this pistol brace rule, which violates law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights,” said Senator Tillis. “The ATF should never have promulgated this rule. I am proud to introduce this legislation with my colleagues to protect the Second Amendment and keep this rule from being enforced.”
Earlier this month, Senator Tillis joined an amicus brief contending the ATF’s new pistol brace rule. In 2021, Senator Tillis sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Acting Director of the ATF Marvin Richardson expressing concerns and opposition to this rule.
The rule, titled Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached Stabilizing Braces, would reclassify pistols as short-barreled rifles if they have a stabilizing brace attachment, even though many disabled veterans and other Americans rely on these braces to use their firearms. Under this rule, lawful gun owners could face up to 10 years in jail and thousands of dollars in fines if they fail to register pistols with stabilizing braces with the ATF. In addition, if gun owners do not register their firearms, they would have to destroy the firearm, surrender their firearm to the ATF, or remove the brace so that it cannot be reattached.
In 2012, the Obama-Biden Administration’s ATF determined that pistol brace attachments do not change the classification of a pistol to that of a rifle. Despite this, the Biden Administration in 2021 directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to propose a rule to clarify when a pistol with a brace attachment should be designated as a rifle. As a result, the DOJ announced the “stabilizing braces” final rule earlier this year.
Full text of the CRA resolution is available here.
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