Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) told Breitbart News the Biden Administration’s push to reclassify AR-pistols with stabilizer braces will “[take] away disabled veterans’ Second Amendment rights.”
On June 7, 2021, Breitbart News noted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) put forward a proposed rule that would place some AR-pistols with stabilizer braces under the purview of the National Firearms Act (NFA). This means the process for acquiring said AR-pistols would be the same cumbersome, time-consuming process currently in place for acquiring a suppressor, short-barreled-rifles (SBRs), or a machine gun.
The process includes being fingerprinted and photographed, undergoing a background check, registering the AR-pistol with the ATF, and paying a $200 federal tax. The entire process takes nine to ten months to complete.
Scalise told Breitbart News, “Many disabled people in America use pistol stabilizing braces in order to be able exercise their Second Amendment rights.”
He noted, “Moreover, these stabilizing braces were designed specifically for disabled veterans, our men and women in uniform who became disabled and were having trouble shooting firearms for recreational use or for the safety of their families.”
Scalise and Rep. Richard Husdon (R-NC) held a press conference earlier this week. The Louisiana Republican noted that the conference included “one of the disabled veterans for whom the stabilizer brace was originally designed.” The veteran talked of how the brace had changed his life and how he had traveled the country showing other disabled veterans how it can help them.
After noting the degree to which disabled veterans depend on the stabilizing braces, Scalise said, “If the Biden Administration takes the stabilizing brace away from disabled veterans, then the Biden Administration is going to be taking away disabled veterans’ Second Amendment rights. And why would Joe Biden want to take away the Second Amendment rights of disabled veterans who were injured protecting our freedoms?”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.