Pistol Brace Rule is Almost Dead

In this episode  I discuss the latest news on the pistol brace rule and explain how this version of the rule is almost dead.

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Transcript

0:19

Well, welcome to the live to shoot podcast. My name is Jeff Dowdell and I've been a licensed firearm dealer for the last 16 years in this podcast to talk about all things related to the second amendment, anything else going on in the world or any other story that I might find interesting. So welcome, welcome, welcome. So I wanted to just touch base with you real quick today and give you an update on the pistol brace rule. This thing has been, you know, going on and on for the last year or so. And we gone through a variety of different. Uh, uh, iterations and episodes and ups and downs, and we are finally getting to a, to a good place. So to, uh, circle back from the beginning, the ATF issued a ruling that basically said that if you have a pistol brace, a brace that attaches to a a pistol, a typically an AR type pistol, uh, that, that makes that a short barreled rifle. And these pistol braces were originally designed for people that were handicapped, had some sort of disability that made it, uh, difficult for them to, uh, fire a, uh, a AR type pistol, uh, effectively. And so this takes it and braces it against their forearm so that they have a more stable firing platform to shoot from. And the ATF has come back, came back and issued a ruling that said that these are short barrel rifles and so they need to be treated as such and that they have to be registered with the NFA. You have to pay your 200 tax stamp and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so this rule, uh, was proposed and went for comments, people tore it apart, and then, uh, the ATF finally issued their, their final ruling and gave everybody a little, uh, leeway, a few months to, uh, file their tax stamps. They gave them a free, they, they didn't charge them the 200, but you had to register and you had to say, I've got one of these. Or if you didn't, you had to destroy it or risk being a felon. And a very, very, very small percentage of the estimated owners of these file their, their form, uh, ones to register these. So there were a lot of felons potentially created. And obviously this went to court and there were some temporary restraining orders that were put in place across the country based on different, uh, whether you're a Texas resident or if you're a member of the, uh, Firearms Policy Coalition or Gun Owners of America, you got these, uh, there's just a hodgepodge of rulings that said, you know, right now you're not, if you're in this class, this group, you're, the ATF can't enforce this rule against you. Finally, a district court has come down and set a, a temporary injunction. So the injunction is a nationwide, uh, ruling versus the restraining order, which is based on different groups. And the injunction applies to everyone and has said that. Right now, this rule does not exist. We're going back to the status quo and we're going to wait until this thing is finally decided in the courts. And they only do this when they have a really good idea that They're not going to, the ATF is not going to, to win in this case and, uh, where eventually the rule will be invalidated. So what's going on here? So what is, is happened is this has been, it's really more procedural, administrative. process. It's not really related to the Second Amendment. I'm not saying that these things are protected or not protected by the Second Amendment. That's not the argument. There's the Administrative, uh, Process Act and Mis Administrative Procedures Act that basically tells how all these different agencies, FAA, ATF, uh, EPA, how they're supposed to issue these Administrative rules and that's what this was an administrative rule. It wasn't a law, it was a new rule that they said this is how we're gonna start enforcing it and they have to follow these rules and what this case is saying is that the ATF didn't follow these rules which they didn't. If y'all remember the original rule came out and they had this long form all these questions and criteria and depending on what your gun, how it If it, you would give it a certain point level and if it had a certain point level, then it would come back and say that, yes, uh, this is an SBR. And it was very complicated. And when it went through the comment periods, it, people just destroyed it about how unrealistic it was to, uh, make this determination. So the ATF came back and completely changed the rule and just said, Hey, we're just going to look at these few criteria. So it's kind of a bait and switch. They say, hey, there's a rule. I want everybody to comment on it. And then they issue a new rule. And that's what the court saying that ATF, you, you could not do this. And so we are now in this period where, uh, the courts have finally gone through the process and they issued this, this temporary injunction where now everybody's protected. So if you didn't file your form one and you still have your pistol brace. You're safe. You can go out and use it. You can do everything that you have previously. If you filed it as an SBR, well, now you have to kind of treat it like an SBR. You have to make sure you got your tax stamp with you, blah, blah, blah, wherever you go. It's kind of complicated. Not sure how they're going to undo some of this, uh, this, uh, uh, stuff. And that's part of why the injunction was put in place, because the court said, if we keep doing this, there's some... irreparable harm that's going to happen to these people. They're spending money, they're doing all this kind of stuff, and we can't back it out. So we got to put a pause on this till we figure this thing out. So what's going to happen? Well, more than likely, it's going to go to court, it's going to get decided, and it's going to, the rule's going to be invalidated. Then the ATF is going to appeal and the fifth Circuit will probably look at this and it'll eventually make, its make its way to the Supreme Court. And at that point in time, the Supreme Court is gonna have to evaluate whether or not this rule, uh, was uh, done correctly or not. And at that point, I don't know if it'll fall under some Second Amendment. Um, issues or not, but that'll be the process. And we're probably looking at a couple of years before it makes it through this process. So good news is. We've got a few years before this whole pistol brace thing comes back up and we have to start worrying about it again. Uh, bad news is, is that since it is an administrative rule, the ATF could come back and do a whole new rule, try and go through the process correctly and see now, do they have that staying power? Do they have that gumption to do it? Plus we're going to get a new administration in hopefully in a, in a year or so. And. Maybe the whole approach for the ATF will completely change at that point in time. So. Kind of wait and see, but right now, good news is, if you have a pistol, a pistol brace, it's completely legal, you can go out and use it, no worries, nothing to worry from the ATF, because they can't enforce this rule, so good news in that standpoint, and for now, we're gonna probably not be talking about the pistol brace rule for a little while, because we're gonna have to go through some other court decisions, and eventually, we're really gonna be waiting for it to get to the Supreme Court, so. Thank you for watching. Just a quick update for you. Appreciate her by listening. Uh, have a good day and I will, and if I don't talk to you before, have a happy Thanksgiving, going to be doing some traveling, so probably won't get another episode out unless something just pops that we have to talk about and get that out to y'all, but, uh, I wanted to get this update to you. So got a pistol brace, go out and use it this weekend. Um, and if, if you liked this episode, share it with others. Follow the podcast, do all those things. Uh, appreciate you listening. Thanks and have a happy Thanksgiving and, uh, enjoy all your time off. Thank you.