NRA Launches Members’ Defense Over ATF Pistol Brace Rule
The National Rifle Association filed a legal brief on Wednesday challenging the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) implementation of its controversial pistol brace rule.
The nation’s largest gun rights organization, in the filing first viewed by the Daily Wire, seeks to prevent prosecution of its members over violations of the new regulation. The ATF recently moved to extensively regulate pistol stabilizer braces, and the policy went into effect June 1.
These accessories were designed to permit disabled veterans to enjoy sport shooting when they returned from deployment.
Estimates are anywhere from 10 to 40 million of the braces are in use nationwide. They allow gun owners to strap the weapon onto their forearms or place them on their shoulder for increased stability.
NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre declared the organization seeks to prevent “this arbitrary attack on law-abiding gun owners on multiple fronts.”
Seconding LaPierre’s position was NRA President Charles Cotton. He proclaimed it will “continue to defend its members and their constitutional freedoms — fighting this rule and the anti-Second Amendment agenda in every forum available.”
The group intervened in an existing suit brought by the Second Amendment Foundation against the ATF, the Department of Justice, and specific agency leaders.
In its complaint, the NRA said that its members and millions of other Americans must either dispose of, alter, or register their firearms. One of these actions must be taken no matter the caliber of the weapon or the style of the brace.
The organization said that if lawful gun owners guess wrong, “they face the prospect of felony prosecution, 10 years in prison, and large fines.”
The ATF’s new rule marked a reversal of more than 10 years of policy, and with the stroke of a pen made potential felons out of millions of law-abiding Americans.
The organization’s filing against “Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached ‘Stabilizing Braces’” sought a preliminary and permanent injunction against the ATF enforcing the final rule. Other gun rights groups and the state of Texas have been afforded preliminary injunctive relief.
Even in light of last year’s Bruen decision by the Supreme Court that greatly restored gun rights, the federal government is still moving full speed ahead to limit the ability to keep and bear arms. It is fortunate that groups such as the NRA fight daily to block Washington at every turn.
