Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
The ATF has overstepped its boundaries yet again. This time, trying to requalify pistol stabilizing braces as short-barreled rifles.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed a lawsuit immediately after the ATF’s new rule went into effect. The new rule is a reclassification of pistols with stabilizing braces that give owners of such braces 120 days to either swap the barrel for a rifle length barrel, remove and dispose of the pistol brace or register the firearm with the ATF. Read the full complaint here.
The fine for failing to comply with the new regulation is up to 10 years in prison, $10,000, or both. Former Marines Darren Britto of Amarillo, Gabriel Tauscher of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, and Shawn Kroll of Hartland, Wisconsin, decided that they could not stand by and watch the federal government use the ATF as a tool to violate the rights of American Citizens.
The Deputy Council for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, Dan Lennington, said:
“These military veterans defended our country overseas and now they are defending our rights here at home.”
“WILL is proud to represent these patriots. The Biden Administration has no power to reclassify pistols as rifles, and we will vigorously defend the Second Amendment in federal court.”
The ATF is giving owners of pistol stabilizing braces or similar attachments no later than 120 days after the date of publication in the federal register to comply with the new requirements.
Many argue that the ATF cannot approve the 10,000,000 to 40,000,000 stabilizing braces currently in civilian hands within 120 days. Should this be the case, it would appear the ATF would be entrapping lawful gun owners and turning them into felons for a law that is unconstitutional and illegal for the ATF to create without congressional approval.
According to the lawsuit filed, “congressional authority by significantly expanding the definition of rifle under federal law and, with it, imposes potential criminal liability on millions of Americans exercising their second amendment rights.”
WILL’s website posted: “The lawsuit alleges that ATF’s new rule violates the Second Amendment and the Separation of Powers, which prohibits federal agencies from making new laws without clear Congressional authorization. The suit is filed in the Northern District of Texas. This is the first lawsuit to challenge ATF’s final rule.”
https://www.ammoland.com/2023/02/former-marines-sue-atf-over-new-pistol-brace-rule/#axzz7sJP3ppsi