Do you own a pistol brace-equipped firearm? Have you ever known someone who has used a pistol brace while operating a firearm?
If so (or even if not), you may have seen the term “pistol brace” come up in the news over the past two years.
Pistol braces have become a hotly debated topic in the gun community – but why? What’s the issue?
The answer is that as litigation is still ongoing, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) has deemed by federal rule that most pistol brace-equipped firearms are “short-barrel rifles” and subject to the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934. Thus, unless registered via the Form 1 process, possession of a pistol-brace-equipped firearm is a violation of the ATF’s current policies.
The Biden Administration has made it their mission to see to it that pistol brace-equipped firearms are banned nationwide, and those who possess them could be subject to federal prosecution. The constitutionality of this ATF policy is currently being litigated, and courts have imposed injunctions blocking the enforcement of the pistol brace ban. This is where being a member of a gun rights group like the National Association for Gun Rights can come in handy by having legal protections – but we’ll get more into that later.
I’m going to try and take you through some of the latest updates surrounding pistol braces and whether or not your pistol brace is legal in the eyes of the law.
Let’s start from the beginning.
What is a Pistol Brace?
For those of you who may not know, stabilizing braces (commonly referred to as “pistol braces” were invented in 2012 by a man named Alex Bosco.
Bosco is a United States Marine Corps veteran who wanted to ensure safety for wounded veterans operating a firearm. So, he devised a mechanism with flaps and a strap to safely secure the firearm to the shooter’s forearm.
Thus, the pistol brace was born.
In a testimony before Congress in March of 2023, Bosco stated:
“[The pistol brace] is also not a force multiplier in any way, shape, or form. It simply allows a shooter to fire a weapon more accurately by giving the shooter an additional point of contact at the forearm.”
So there you have it. Pistol braces are designed to help countless Americans with disabilities – like wounded military veterans – or those who lack the body strength to be able to shoot in a controlled manner.
As Bosco stated, they are simply there to make it safer to shoot a firearm. Without a pistol brace, these Americans would be vulnerable to potentially harming themselves or others.
ATF Steps In
Ten years passed, during which time ATF had absolutely no issue with pistol braces.
Then, in the blink of an eye, ATF bureaucrats changed their minds and instituted a pistol brace ban — turning millions of law-abiding gun owners into felons — all without an act of Congress.
January of 2023 is when the ATF published Final Rule 2021R-08F, classifying all braced pistols as NFA short-barreled rifles, which meant that if you had a pistol brace on your firearm, you had six months to either:
A) Destroy your gun
B) Turn your legally-owned firearm into the government
C) Register your firearm with the government, giving them your name, address, social security number, fingerprints, and a photo of your firearm, or
D) Go to jail for up to 10 years and pay up to a $250,000 fine.
In response, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.J. Res 44, authored by Congressman Andrew Clyde (R-GA-09) in June of 2023, which would have nullified the ATF pistol brace ban, but the measure died a week later in the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate.
Legal Challenges
After getting nowhere in the Senate, lawsuits from gun rights organizations were filed left and right, seeking to nullify the ATF pistol brace ban.
The National Association for Gun Rights, along with Texas Gun Rights and Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) filed our suit against the ATF, Texas Gun Rights v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives in federal court in the Northern District of Texas on June 8th, 2023.
Similar lawsuits were filed by the Firearms Policy Coalition, Gun Owners of America, and eventually the National Rifle Association.
Gun Rights Groups Score Massive Victory
It didn’t take long for the courts to put ATF in their place.
By August of 2023, The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Firearms Policy Coalition’s claim against the ATF pistol brace rule is likely to succeed, with Judge Don R. Willett adding that the ATF pistol brace ban likely violates the Second Amendment.
Fast forward to October of 2023 – the National Foundation for Gun Rights (legal arm of the National Association for Gun Rights) scored a major victory for gun rights when federal district court Judge Reed O’Connor granted a preliminary injunction in NFGR’s lawsuit challenging the ATF’s pistol brace rule.
As a result, all members of the National Association for Gun Rights and Texas Gun Rights have been protected from ATF’s pistol brace ruling.
“This is a major victory for the Second Amendment and a blow against the ATF’s unconstitutional legislating by bureaucratic rulemaking,” said Hannah Hill, Executive Director of the National Foundation for Gun Rights.
“The ATF has been overstepping their authority for decades,” said Dudley Brown, president of the National Association for Gun Rights. “We have a legislature who creates our laws; we don’t need a bunch of unelected bureaucratic cowboys at the ATF hijacking Congress’s job.”
In November of 2023, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a nationwide injunction preventing ATF from enforcing the pistol brace ban.
Then, in March of this year, U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay issued the broadest injunction to date – prohibiting ATF from enforcing the pistol brace ban against NRA members.
Is the ATF Pistol Brace Rule Doomed?
ATF has taken hit after hit in the courts on this pistol brace ruling because the courts know what gun owners have said all along to be true: that a pistol brace ban is in clear violation of the Second Amendment.
It’s pretty simple, really: the Second Amendment very clearly uses the language “shall not be infringed,” and the courts take that literally. A ban on pistol braces infringes upon the rights of law-abiding gun owners and, therefore, is unconstitutional.
That being said, the fight is not over.
ATF doesn’t seem to know when to pack it up and go home. They’re going to keep fighting this battle until the bitter end. Expect them to file appeal after appeal until they get a final ruling from the United States Supreme Court.
But their odds don’t look to spiffy there, either. This is the Supreme Court that gave us the landmark Bruen ruling in 2022, which has given new life to Second Amendment advocacy across the country.
Biden’s War on Gun Owners – Pistol Brace Ban is Just the Beginning
And yet, we have to remember who we’re dealing with here. This is the ATF – who has a long history of grossly unconstitutional overreach dating back decades. The pistol brace ban is the same tactic they employed when they banned bump stocks.
This is all part of Joe Biden and the ATF’s process. They use mass shootings to slowly but surely take away every single one of our God-given rights.
It’s a cycle – mass shootings, ban bump stocks. Mass shooting, ban pistol braces. Mass shootings ban home-build kits.
They know that they can’t unilaterally take away all of our guns in one fell swoop – so they chip away at it bit by bit.
They’re hoping that we won’t even notice.
One day, everything that we need to own and operate a firearm will be banned.
This is their long game.
It starts with bump stocks.
It starts with pistol braces.
It starts with “ghost guns.”
Little by little, they’re trying to strip us of our right to bear arms.
We have to dig our heels in and say NO to this tyranny.
It’s on us to stay vigilant and keep pressure on our elected officials to rein in the ATF and pass legislation protecting pistol braces.
We here at the National Association for Gun Rights will never stop fighting blatant government overreach against the Second Amendment.
Disclaimer: This information is presented “as is” to benefit NAGR members and the public. Nothing here should be considered legal advice. Though we try to present accurate information, firearms laws, regulations, and court cases constantly change. Additionally, overlapping state and local policies may apply in your area. It is your responsibility to know and follow the law. NAGR makes no representation that any claim made here are current and accurate. Please speak with a qualified firearms attorney in your local jurisdiction for advice regarding firearm laws or your specific situation.
