Posted on 05/24/2023 7:12:06 AM PDT by Twotone
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) can’t enforce President Joe Biden’s ban on pistol-brace-equipped guns.
That’s the result of a ruling from a three-judge panel on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals released on Tuesday. The court issued a preliminary injunction against Biden’s brace ban in Mock v. Garland. The scope of the order may be limited to the named plaintiffs in the case, which was brought by two individual plaintiffs and the gun-rights group Firearms Policy Coalition.
“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Appellants’ Opposed Motion For a Preliminary Injunction Pending Appeal is GRANTED as to the Plaintiffs in this case,” the court wrote.
The gun-rights group called the ruling a “huge victory,” but said it wants clarification on the scope of the injunction.
“We are very excited and encouraged by the Fifth Circuit’s decision this morning,” Cody J. Wisniewski, Senior Attorney for Constitutional Litigation at FPC Action Foundation, said in a statement. “We intend to ask the Court for additional information about who is covered under the injunction, but cannot stress enough just how important this decision is.”
The panel also expidited the schedule for hearing the merits of the case, but didn’t provide any explanation of the ruling.
The injunction means that when the grace period for registering guns that the ATF now considers short-barrel rifles, which must be registered under the National Firearms Act of 1934, the agency won’t be able to arrest anyone over possession of those unregistered guns. The deadline for registering those guns, which includes millions of pistol-brace-equipped firearms, is set for the end of the month. Now, brace owners will receive a temporary reprieve as the case continues to be litigated.
The ruling represents another blow to President Biden’s gun policy agenda. A federal judge also recently blocked his attempt to ban the sale of unfinished gun parts by reclassifying them as equivalent to functioning guns. And multiple courts have also blocked former president Donald Trump’s (R.) bump stock ban, which used much of the same legal reasoning Biden has relied on for his executive actions.
The panel scheduled the hearing on the merits of the pistol-brace case for the “next available Oral Argument Calendar.
Erik Longnecker, Deputy Chief of the ATF’s Public Affairs Division, said the agency couldn’t speak about the ruling and directed people to the rule for further details on compliance.
“ATF is unable to comment on this litigation related to short-barreled rifles,” he told The Reload.
Other gun-rights advocates celebrated the ruling, but said more action is needed. Gun Owners of America, which filed an amicus breif supporting the plaintiffs, called on Congress to block the ATF rule.
“This injunction is welcome news, but due to it’s limited nature, we still need Congress to act before the June 1st deadline,” Aidan Johnsotn, the group’s Director of Federal Affairs, said in a statement.
This particular injunction only applies to the named plantiffs in the case. It DOES NOT stay implementation and enforcement of the Pistol Brace Rule for the rest of the 5th Circuit, or the rest of the country.
He expects that most owners will not comply and, just, wait it out.
Wonder how many Chicago gang bangers, with their Glock switches, the atf is prosecuting, federally and sending to fed prison?
But Matt Hoover is looking at 45 years for promoting an unworkable, out of spec Lightning Link, drawn on a steel business card, that the atf said was perfectly legal and can be downloaded on the internet.
This and other pics I've seen look like they are for use on semi-auto personal defense weapons...like the HK-P90 and others.
When I see "pistol" I think Beretta 92FS or a Glock 17 or a S&W 1911.
1. infringement is unconditional
2. This has to be about the silliest infringement attempt yet
3. How stupid can they get, anyway?
4. We must terminate the bureaus that deprive us of our rightful liberties
If I am not, then, their attempts to cause the most confusion and enmity towards handguns in general is rather obvious.
According to BATF rules, it is a pistol, barrel is less than 16 inches. They ruled in past that a brace was not a stock. A stock on a weapon with a barrel less than 16 inches is an SBR (Short Barreled Rifle, needs a $200 tax stamp and special license)
ATF is trying to change an established rule they made themselves, to create a new group of Class III weapons
Thanks for clarifying.
The claim is that the wrist brace rather than a stock makes it a pistol rather than a short barreled rifle. Yet I’ve never seen anyone at the range use the wrist brace as anything thing other than a stock by placing it against the shoulder. It may happen but I’ve never seen it. We need to just get rid of the restrictions on short barreled rifles rather than having to rely on these fictitious work arounds.
All the hoplophobe existential angst over short-barreled rifles is illogical anyway. It’s a hangover left over from the Gangster Era of the Roaring 20s. Anything the Gangsters used was automatically construed as evil (brass knuckles, switchblades, etc). Before the gangsters got hold of Tommy guns, nobody considered civilian possession of machine guns to be a problem. After the Gangsters got them America’s first all-socialist-all-the-time president and two demoncrat-controlled houses of Congress passed the NFA, virtually without opposition.
What this really is about is guys D-I-Y-ing short-barreled rifles (SBRs) without going through the ATF paperwork and paying the $200 NFA tax. What makes no sense is that a short-barreled rifle is less lethal than a (non-short-barreled) rifle because of the bullet’s significantly lower velocity. And an SBR can be aimed more precisely than a stock-less handgun because bracing the stock against the shoulder makes the gun sights much steadier. So you’re more likely to hit what you’re aiming at as opposed to accidentally shooting someone you didn’t mean to.
So in the real world, an SBR is less lethal than a full-blown rifle and less likely to produce an accidental shooting that a standard pistol. It makes no sense that you’d want to discourage either of those. Short-barreled rifles need to be taken off the NFA list, period, which solves the SBR/not-an-SBR problem that stabilizing braces have caused.
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Here’s my take.
1. Register the pistol braced weapon through May 31st, that’s tomorrow, for free. If you already have an ATF eForms account, such as from a silencer or previous SBR, then it takes 10 minutes to register online. For free. No $200 tax stamp, but only through May 31st.
2. If, and a highly doubtful if, this issue sides with gunowners, then simply deregister the SBR. All it takes is a quick form letter. Removing the SBR from the national registry allows you to sell the pistol braced firearm to someone else. If you don’t deregister then you may find selling it becomes encumbered with the ATF claiming it is an ATF weapon.
By registering, you remove any risk that this issues goes against you. Considering the criminal, unconstitutional, and tyrannical nature of our political state of affairs today, this issue is most likely going against us. By registering by tomorrow, you save $200, and the process is stupid easy. If we do win, then simply deregister the firearm.
Fact is, everyone who wants to know already knows you have guns. Big freaking deal. Buy a 50 cal and really piss them off!
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