ATF BRACE RULING

So, the ATF published to the Federal Register yesterday, January 31, 2023, the new ruling concerning stabilizing braces. There has been a lot of information on this from a multitude of individuals. In a nutshell, any weapon that has a stabilizing brace attached, will be considered a short barrel rifle (SBR) and will need to be registered as such for a tax stamp. They will waive the tax stamp fee ($200.00) if the paperwork is filed within 120 days (May 31, 2023). Numerous problems exist with this rule. First and foremost is the ATF is not a law-making entity. That falls to Congress. Secondly, can you imagine the millions of lawful gunowners that decide to comply with this, sends in the paperwork and a picture of the pistol with the brace attached to then wait on the ATF to approve their paperwork. If you haven't tried getting a tax stamp for an SBR or silencer as of late, wait times are reaching 365 days and beyond. Let's add millions more to an already swamped agency and the wait times will only grow. Not to mention the automatic denial of the application after 88 days if they background is not completed. But then, you just gave them the evidence needed to come after you for a federal crime of possessing an SBR without a tax stamp.

There are several pro 2nd Amendment groups that are planning on challenging this in court. Hopefully they will prevail, and this will be found unconstitutional as it should be and is. So if you are thinking about applying and all the stuff the ATF is requiring, I can tell you want many I know are doing. They are going to let this breath for a while and wait to see what the lawsuits and court filings do.