We have until September 8 to submit comments supporting President Biden's executive order for the ATF to stop misbranded “stabilizing braces!”
Gun manufacturers and buyers are misusing and misbranding “stabilizing braces” to circumvent the law and turn pistols into concealable assault rifles. We need to show widespread public support for Biden's executive order calling for the ATF to prevent this dangerous misuse.
Learn more below about why this action is needed.
What are Short-Barreled Rifles, and What’s Their Connection to Misbranded “Stabilizing Braces?”
Short-barrelled rifles are effectively portable assault weapons. The purpose of the short-barreled rifle is to make the firearm easily concealable and maneuverable, greatly enhancing its lethality. Congress took necessary public safety action to regulate these firearms during the Prohibition era, when they became a weapon of choice for mobsters. The 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA) was the first federal regulation of guns in America. This vital law ensures that the purchasers of particularly lethal firearms and components receive heightened scrutiny, including fingerprinting and photo identification, before accessing these weapons.
But recently, some manufacturers and gun owners have erroneously misbranded accessories as “stabilizing braces” to circumvent federal gun regulations and effectively access short-barreled rifles.
A stabilizing brace is a device that can be attached to a pistol to help a shooter "stabilize" their arm. While stabilizing braces are intended to aid shooters with disabilities, similar devices marketed as “stabilizing braces” have since been used to turn pistols into illegal short-barreled rifles and enable easy, accurate, and rapid fire that makes the firearm significantly more deadly. Their enhanced lethality makes them appealing to mass shooters — who knowingly take advantage of the legal loophole to obtain them.
What Would This Proposed ATF Rule Do?
The ATF’s proposed rule would be a long overdue recognition that some gun manufacturers are mismarketing their products as “stabilizing braces,” either because they are negligent of their easy use to convert pistols to short-barreled rifles or to intentionally exploit the law.
The rule would ensure that certain “stabilizing braces,” when attached to a pistol, are properly classified as changing that firearm to a “short-barreled rifle” under the NFA and that the owners are properly vetted under the law. This proposed rule will in no way affect those individuals with disabilities who use a stabilizing brace for its intended purpose.