Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
President Biden has made clear he intends to veto H.J. Res. 44, the resolution aimed at blocking the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) AR-pistol stabilizer brace rule.
Breitbart News reported that the ATF’s rule re-classifies AR-pistols with stabilizer braces, defining them as short barrel rifles. Short barrel rifles are required to be registered under the auspices of the National Firearms Act (1934), therefore owners of AR-pistols with stabilizer braces are now required to either register the firearms with the ATF or take one of the four following steps:
• Scenario 1: Turn in the entire firearm with the attached “stabilizing brace” to ATF;
• Scenario 2: Destroy the whole firearm;
• Scenario 3: Convert the short-barreled rifle into a long-barreled rifle;
• Scenario 4: Permanently remove and dispose of, or alter, the “stabilizing brace” from the firearm so that it cannot be reattached.
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) responded to the ATF’s rule by pushing H.J. Res. 44, blocking the rule from the being enforced.
The House has yet to vote on Clyde’s resolution, but Biden is making clear he will veto it if it reaches his desk.
The Hill pointed to a White House policy statement, which conveyed Biden’s position: “Even though Congressional Republicans should take additional action to keep these and other dangerous weapons off our streets, they are instead pushing a resolution to reverse this rule and the progress we have made to enforce existing statutory requirements on these dangerous weapons.”
The statement added, “The rationale is clear: short-barreled rifles are more concealable than long guns, yet more dangerous and accurate at a distance than traditional pistols.”
The White House noted that an AR-pistol with a stabilizer brace was used in two mass shootings: The August 4, 2019, Dayton, Ohio, shooting (nine killed) and the March 22, 2021, Boulder, Colorado, grocery store shooting (ten killed).
The White House did not mention that 32 people were killed in the April 16, 2017, Virginia Tech University shooting by one gunman, who was armed with a 9mm pistol and .22 pistol, neither of which had stabilizer braces.