ATF Rule Effectively Turns Gun Owners Into Felons

On Jan. 13, the attorney general signed a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives ruling, Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached “Stabilizing Braces.” The rule, which states that pistols or handguns with “stabilizing braces” will now be classified with short-barreled rifles, took effect on Jan. 31, the day it was published in the Federal Register.

This new rule has the effect of turning millions of innocent gun owners into felons — meaning they could face fines and even imprisonment.

These “stabilizing braces” that assist groups such as the elderly or the disabled in properly operating a pistol or handgun are now looked at as unlawful. And if branded as “felons,” they would received punishment that could be devastating to their lives.

According to the ATF, compliance options to the rule include removing the “stabilizing brace” from the firearm, surrendering the firearm to an ATF office, or simply destroying the firearm completely.

Any firearms with “stabilizing braces” that are short-barreled rifles had to be registered prior to the May 31 deadline, 120 days after the publication of the rule.

The ATF ruling on pistols with “stabilizing braces” is being challenged by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and 26 other state attorneys general. On May 25, the group of outraged chief law enforcement officers of the states sent a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in hopes of getting the attention of the speaker and members of Congress.

Morrisey pointed out that laws of this nature are ambiguous. The language used extends, he said, the threshold of the rule into categories of guns that should not be illegal.

Morrisey told Newsmax he believes the Biden administration is making things more difficult. Things that were deemed acceptable for a long time, he said, are now put into question with rulings such as this. Morrisey said, “This is a deterrent, making them cost more money.”

West Virginia and 26 other states are suing to rectify this move by the Biden administration. Morrisey had hoped that through the Congressional Review Act, the rule might have been be invalidated by a congressional resolution of disapproval by the May 31 deadline.

The attorneys general seeking to overturn the rule see the potential damage this could do to law-abiding citizens who own firearms, and Morrisey sees it as “egregious.”

“The administration is transforming rules to make criminals,” he said.

Christopher Savino is a rising senior at Rutgers University in New Jersey and a summer intern at Newsmax’s Washington, D.C., office.