Pistol Braces & The ATF: What You Need to Know
MUDDY BAY® Statement
By now, you have heard about the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) “Rule” and their restricting (and forced registration) of firearms with pistol braces. You probably feel a little lost and want to know what is going on.
With so much political wrangling dragging on for years, a lot of owners are confused and overwhelmed as to what is now legal and where the ATF actually stands on pistol braces. Hopefully, we can help and make things a little easier to understand.
What Happened?
Basically, the Final Brace “Rule” is the largest gun registration scheme in US History. Fact, not exaggeration. The ATF “Rule” has been published to the Federal Register and has now taken effect. This “Rule” forces owners of certain brace-equipped firearms to choose between registration, destruction, forfeiture, altering the firearm, or become criminally liable.
Early Tuesday morning Jan. 31, 2023, the ATF published its final new 98-page Stabilizing Braces “Rule” in the Federal Register. Unless successfully challenged in the courts, the new “Rule” will fundamentally outlaw the use of pistol stabilizing braces in their current form, reclassifying large format handguns equipped with one as a short-barreled rifles that will now be regulated under the National Firearms Act of 1934.
What IS the new “Rule”
Simply, the “Rule” expands the definition of a “rifle.”
“the definition of ‘rifle’ shall include a weapon that is equipped with an accessory, component, or other rearward attachment (e.g., a ‘stabilizing brace’) that provides surface area that allows the weapon to be fired from the shoulder, provided other factors, as described in this preamble and in the amended regulations, indicate that the weapon is designed, made, and intended to be fired from the shoulder.”
This means that nearly any weapon with a pistol brace attached to it is now considered a rifle. Basically, if the rifle’s barrel is under 16 inches and it is equipped with a brace, it is now classified as an SBR (Short Barrel Rifle) under the new guidelines and illegal unless the owner registers it with the federal government.
What will this mean?
This “Rule” has major implications for millions of law-abiding firearms holders who use pistol braces with their firearms. Unless the owners register those firearms with the ATF under the National Firearms Act (and pay $200 per tax stamp), they could be prosecuted for a felony.
Maybe you are thinking about NOT paying the $200 Fee and perhaps NOT registering your firearm. Think again. That IS certainly an option, since, after all, there is always non-compliance, but you run the risk of a 10-year/$250,000 retaliation from the government if you are caught, charged, and convicted.
How Long do I have?
We, like most law abiding Americans, believe this is a massive expansion of the only gun registry currently legal under federal law. With this “Rule”, suddenly millions of common everyday pistols get treated similarly to machine guns, silencers, and destructive devices (grenades, poisonous gases, and missiles). You have 120 days to bring them into compliance.
"Any weapons with 'stabilizing braces' or similar attachments that constitute rifles under the NFA must be registered no later than May 31, 2023," as mandated by the ATF. Alternatives offered include handing the firearm over to the agency, destroying it, converting the pistol to a normal rifle with a barrel at least 16 inches long, or "permanently" removing the brace so that it can't be reattached.
So let’s call this “Rule” what it really is: Gun registration for millions of American gun owners.
What is the Bottomline?
Muddy Bay® passionately opposes this “Rule”. We believe that, in many respects, it is a complete reversal of years of prior guidance from ATF and believe this represents another example of government overreach and the arbitrary infringement of Americans’ constitutional rights.
This is nothing but a deliberate start to one day begin registering and taxing ALL rifles, pistols, or shotguns under the NFA.
We will work with and support our firearm manufacturers and industry partners to challenge this unjust “Rule”, and look forward to this unconstitutional action being struck down by the courts. The new “Rule” seems to only be popular with a minority of gun control advocates and the White House. By the ATF's own admission, of the 237,000 comments logged over the proposed “Rule” last year, "There were over 217,000 comments opposed to aspects of the “Rule”.
What’s Next?
Given the uncertainty caused by this “Rule”, we, like all Federal Firearms Licensees, are complying with the “Rule” as we currently understand it published in the Federal Register. For now, will no longer be able to sell or ship pistols with stabilizing braces.
But NOTHING IS OVER, and Muddy Bay® will continue to do everything in our power to legally promote the Second Amendment and the rights of law-abiding gun owners while this matter makes its way through our judicial system. We encourage you to join in the fight and write to your elected officials expressing your support for repealing the ATF Pistol Brace Rule.
Freedom is never free, So now is the time.
#LetsTakeItOutside