Attorney General Merrick Garland and Steve Dettelbach, the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), released new regulations on Friday that would add additional regulations to pistol stabilising braces, including higher taxes, extended waiting periods, and registration.
Stabilizing braces, which can be fitted to pistols, are claimed by proponents of gun control to essentially convert pistols into short-barreled rifles, which are subject to strict regulation under the National Firearms Act (NFA).
As soon as the regulation is published in the Federal Register, it becomes operative.
Garland explained the new rule in a call with reporters on Friday. “Congress concluded about a century ago that short-barreled guns must be subject to stronger legal standards,” he said. “Policymakers recognised what we now know to be true at the time. Short-barreled rifles have a dangerous combination: They are more powerful and devastating than pistols while being easier to conceal than rifles.
He noted that the “final rule submitted today makes clear that firearm makers, dealers, and individuals cannot dodge the significant public safety provisions imposed by Congress simply by adding accessories to pistols that convert them into short-barreled rifles.”
Manufacturers, dealers, and private gun owners have 120 days to register any existing short-barreled rifles covered by the rule tax-free, according to the Justice Department. The department stated that they could also take off the stabilising brace or give their covered short-barreled guns to the ATF.
On the same call, Dettelbach stated that the rule “improves public safety” and “helps assure compliance with the guns rules that Congress approved almost a century ago.” According to Dettelbach, the rule makes it plain that “when pistols are equipped with particular stabilising braces, those pistols are changed into rifles” and must be handled as short-barreled rifles in accordance with the law.
When the ATF proposed a new rule to regulate pistol braces under the NFA in 2020, the proposed restrictions on stabilising braces sparked a heated discussion. Major opposition to the 2020 idea was expressed by organisations like the National Rifle Association.
In a letter to then-Attorney General William Barr, Republican senators expressed their opposition to the measure and said that it “jeopardises law-abiding gun owners across the country.” After the letter was made public, the ATF rescinded the proposed regulation.
After shooters in Boulder, Colorado, and Dayton, Ohio, utilised pistols with stabilising braces, the plan received new life in 2021. Garland made a number of recommendations at the time to reduce gun violence, including reinstating the ban on pistol braces.
The Justice Department stated at the time that “these rules are vital public safety measures because they regulate the transfer of these lethal weapons and assist guarantee they do not end up in the wrong hands.” When these added attachments turn handguns into weapons subject to these stricter requirements, the proposed rule would make that clear.
