New rules on stabilizing gun braces go to court

WASHINGTON On Tuesday, a conservative law firm challenged new federal regulations on guns with stabilizing braces, filing a lawsuit to block gun control actions touted by President Joe Biden after the accessories were used in two mass shootings.

The lawsuit, filed in Texas federal court, challenges the decision to treat the gun as a short gun, a sawed-off gun that has been heavily regulated since the 1930s.

The case against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives alleges that millions of people have stapled guns and use them to make shooting “more accurate and therefore safer.”

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the three veterans by the Wisconsin Law and Freedom Institute in Milwaukee and went into effect Tuesday, when the new federal rule goes into effect. In the lawsuit, they allege that the new ATF rule forces owners to make an “unthinkable choice” of removing the brace, submitting to the national registry, or exposing themselves to possible charges.

“The new rule unlawfully usurps the power of Congress by greatly expanding the definition of a ‘rifle’ under federal law, and thereby places potential criminal liability on millions of Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights,” the lawsuit says. A decade ago, the ATF established that braces don’t make a gun look like a shotgun.

According to the ATF, there are at least three million stabilizing brace shotguns in circulation in the US. Other estimates put the number much higher, the lawsuit alleges. The plaintiffs are asking the court to block enforcement of the rule.

The ruling was one of several moves Biden announced in 2021 after a man using a stabilizing brace killed 10 people at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. A stabilizing brace was also used in the Dayton, Ohio shooting that killed nine people in 2019.

The agency declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing pending litigation. It is believed to be the first case to challenge the rule and has drawn opposition from gun rights groups.

Stabilizing braces turn a pistol into a powerful weapon that is easy to hide, Attorney General Merrick Garland said when he announced the rule earlier this month. Originally designed for disabled veterans, accessories became a loophole used by gun manufacturers to make guns more lethal.