The rule reclassified pistols with stabilizing braces attached as short-barreled rifles. This enormous change meant what were once perfectly legal handguns overnight became weapons that must be registered with the federal government.
The resolution was sponsored by Reps. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) and Richard Hudson (R-NC) and now heads to the Senate.
In the aftermath of Tuesday’s vote, Clyde tweeted that the “unconstitutional” rule was stymied with bipartisan support. He called it a “major win” for service-disabled veterans against the “latest tyrannical tactic” of anti-gun activists.
Hudson also celebrated the House victory, noting that “Americans are tired of unelected bureaucrats making up new laws that infringe on their constitutional rights.”
The sponsors were joined by Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) in heralding the resolution’s passage. He chastised the federal government for weaponizing the ATF against law-abiding gun owners and exhibiting “a blatant disregard for the Constitution.”
The ATF in January decided to reverse a decade of policy that classified stabilizer braces as legal accessories to handguns. Invented in 2012, these devices were designed to allow disabled veterans to continue to enjoy sport shooting after their service time ended.
They became extremely popular with the shooting public, with tens of millions of these accessories sold. That was before the current push in Washington to regulate and prohibit anything related to the Second Amendment.
Now there are an estimated 29 million Americans who are technically felons as they are in violation of the pistol brace rule. The ATF designated May 31 as the deadline to register altered weapons with the federal government or alter or destroy the accessories.
A paltry less than 1% of pistol brace owners are believed to have complied with the rule, setting up a showdown with the ATF.
A Second Amendment advocacy group, Gun Owners of America (GOA), delivered a letter to Congress Tuesday from a coalition of hunters decrying the rule. It was signed by high-profile gun rights activists such as Ted Nugent and at least 16,000 others.
The writing declared that these now-banned braces are “especially important in allowing elderly and/or disabled sportsmen and sportswomen to participate in the American hunting tradition.”
“We urge Congress to pass a joint resolution of disapproval of the ATF rule entitled “Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached ‘Stabilizing Braces.’”
GOA described the rule as a “blatant ban” affecting millions of otherwise legally owned firearms that many U.S. citizens rely on to hunt and enjoy recreational shooting. The group also has concerns that the ATF ban may be used to justify similar prohibitions on other accessories and even firearms.
Even if the resolution passed out of the Senate, it still faces enormous hurdles. The White House announced on Monday that it continues to support the administration’s pistol brace ban. It further threatened a presidential veto should the resolution reach the Oval Office.
The White House said that “this Administration has no higher priority than keeping the American people safe, which is jeopardized with a vote in support of a resolution that makes it easier for mass shooters to obtain these deadly weapons.” It went on to say that if the resolution reaches the President, it will be vetoed.
It is heartening to see Congress listen to the wishes of the American people and strike back against another ATF overreach. Bureaucrats are in place to enforce laws, not make new ones. This is the power constitutionally assigned to the legislature, and only Congress has the authority to enact new gun control.
