Stabilizing brace ban: ‘Pro-gun’ Republicans allow Biden to criminalize owning a handgun
Earlier this year, Joe Biden and the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) published the final Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached “Stabilizing Braces” rule, essentially criminalizing owning a handgun for millions of Americans. It’s set to take effect on June 1 as “pro-gun” Republicans stand by and allow it to happen.
According to Gun Owners of America, the ATF rule banning pistol stabilizing braces gives law-abiding handgun owners three options:
- Register your firearm with the federal government and provide your name, address, social security number, fingerprints, and a photo of your firearm.
- Destroy, rebuild, or turn in your LEGALLY purchased firearm.
- Go to jail for up to 10 years and pay up to a $250,000 fine for failure to comply.
Joe Biden originally laid the groundwork to criminalize owning a handgun via a stabilizing brace ban back in June 2021 when he issued a laundry list of anti-gun executive actions following mass shootings in Georgia and Colorado, including directives for the ATF and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to create proposals to ban so-called ghost guns and pistol braces.
Calling gun violence an “epidemic” and an “international embarrassment,” Biden rolled out his executive orders (or actions) complete with a boatload of Washington doublespeak about how he will address the gun violence without violating the Second Amendment — which means, of course, he’s doing the exact opposite.
Biden’s new rule “will be the largest gun registration, destruction, and confiscation scheme in American history,” Alex Bosco, who invented the stabilizing brace and founded the biggest manufacturer of them, told The Reload at the time.
Despite his goal of eventually banning handguns, Joe Biden informed America that his executive actions are completely within the confines of the Constitution because none of our rights are “absolute.”
“Nothing I’m about to recommend in any way impinges on the Second Amendment. They’re phony arguments suggesting these are Second Amendment rights at stake with what we’re talking about. But no amendment, no amendment to the Constitution is absolute.”
“So, the idea is just bizarre to suggest that some of the things we’re recommending are contrary to the Constitution.” (Emphasis mine)
The ATF responded with a commitment to reclassify a gun with a stabilizing brace intended to make it possible to fire a handgun from the shoulder as a short-barreled rifle. To prepare for enforcement, the agency created a complicated “worksheet” that uses a point system to help owners, retailers, and regulators determine if a gun with a stabilizing brace should be classified as a pistol or rifle.
And Joe Biden’s DOJ said in a statement at the time:
“[W]hen individuals use accessories to convert pistols into short-barreled rifles, they must comply with the heightened regulations on those dangerous and easily concealable weapons.
“[Stabilizing braces] make it easy for people to convert pistols into these more dangerous weapons without going through the statute’s background check and registration requirements.”
After June 1, Biden’s stabilizing brace ban will make handguns equipped with one illegal, requiring gun owners to either register them as rifles, forfeit them, or disassemble them. Failure to do so will subject them to being charged with a felony.
For the “Democrats bad” crowd, you should be aware that Joe Biden is using the same gun-control ploy used by Donald Trump when he issued an executive order banning bump stocks by redefining the firearm attachment as a “machine gun.” Using the new definition made bump stocks subject to prohibition under the 1934 National Firearms Act banning machine guns.
Trump’s bump stock ban was ruled unconstitutional by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, but the matter is still being fought out in the courts.
Joe Biden is also using a firearm attachment — stabilizing pistol brace — to redefine handguns as “short barrel rifles,” a change that would subject handguns to heightened regulations under the 1934 National Firearms Act.
In the end, the new rule regarding stabilizing braces will result in a complete ban on handguns because it will become a part of the federal gun registry Biden has been building, and it will ultimately result in gun confiscation.
Gun owners who possess a handgun equipped with a stabilizing brace falling under the ATF’s new definition of a short-barreled rifle will be required to pay a $200 tax stamp and apply to register the weapon with the agency as a rifle. If they prefer not to do so, they will be required to remove the brace or remove the short barrel and attach a 16-inch or longer barrel to the firearm to comply with the provision of provisions of the National Firearms Act.
Handgun owners using a stabilizing brace will also have the option of destroying their weapon or turning it over to a local ATF office, which is essentially gun confiscation.
With Biden’s stabilizing brace ban and handgun seizures only days away from taking effect, so-called pro-gun Republicans are nowhere to be found, choosing instead to spend their time blaming Biden for the bad economy started by Donald Trump and conducting investigations designed to Make America Great Trump Again.
Back in April, the Republican-led House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted 23-15 to advance H.J.Res.44, a resolution that would prevent attempts by the ATF to regulate pistol stabilizing braces. The resolution employs the Congressional Review Act, which grants Congress the authority to disapprove new federal agency rulemakings, thus nullifying the rule and prohibiting the agency from enacting a similar one in the future.
Unfortunately, Republican “leadership” in the House Rules Committee have elected to ignore this vital resolution; as of today, no vote has been scheduled to stop Biden’s unconstitutional actions. They have, however, decided to hold a vote on H.J. Res. 45, a resolution that would disapprove the rule relating to “Waivers and Modifications of Federal Student Loans,” issued by the Department of Education.
I guess playing “gotcha” with Biden on student loan forgiveness is more important than protecting the Second Amendment.
Joe Biden and his ATF are about to criminalize owning a handgun for nearly 40,000,000 Americans, so repealing this tyrannical infringement on our gun rights needs to be a top priority for the Republican-controlled Congress. To that end, Gun Owners of America is asking for help to bombard the office of every member of Congress with letters from furious gun owners and constitutional conservatives as we get closer and closer to June 1.
If you want to be a part of this campaign, GOA has made it easy. To add your name to their prewritten letter DEMANDING that Congress make overturning Biden’s pistol ban their TOP priority, simply click this link. It only takes seconds, but it could have a timeless impact.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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