Exclusive: Gun Owners of America, Texas AG Filing Suit Against ATF Pistol Brace Rule

Gun Owners of America (GOA), the Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton are filing suit Thursday against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF’s) pistol brace rule.

Breitbart News reported that the ATF pistol brace rule places pistol stabilizer braces under the auspices of the National Firearms Act (NFA).

The rule was published in the Federal Register on January 31, 2023, giving owners of said braces 120 days to take one of the five following actions:

• Turn in the entire firearm with the attached “stabilizing brace” to ATF;
• Destroy the whole firearm;
• Convert the short-barreled rifle into a long-barreled rifle;
• Apply to register the weapon under the NFA; or
• Permanently remove and dispose of, or alter, the “stabilizing brace” from the firearm so that it cannot be reattached.

Breitbart News noted the ATF pistol brace rule portends the registration of millions of firearms.

GOA, GOF, and Texas AG Paxton are filing suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Thursday.

GOA’s senior vice president, Erich Pratt, commented on the suit, saying, “Millions of Americans are facing a very tight deadline to destroy or register their lawfully owned property under this draconian new rule. We hope the court will hear the pleas of gun owners across the country who will be irrevocably harmed by this rule, and GOA stands ready to fight it at every turn.”

GOF’s Sam Paredes noted, “This rule will have some of the most wide-reaching impacts nationwide in the tyrannical history of gun control. We the People will not tolerate this abuse.”

Paxton said, “This is yet another attempt by the Biden Administration to create a workaround to the U.S. Constitution and expand gun registration in America. There is absolutely no legal basis for ATF’s haphazard decision to try to change the long-standing classification for stabilizing braces, force registration on Americans, and then throw them in jail for ten years if they don’t quickly comply. This rule is dangerous and unconstitutional, and I’m hopeful that this lawsuit will ensure that it is never allowed to take effect.”

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 and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a PhD in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.