Forty-eight Republican senators signed a letter sent to President Joe Biden demanding the reversal of a proposal they characterized as “the largest executive branch-imposed gun…confiscation scheme in American history.”
48 senators demand Biden reverse ATF “gun registration and confiscation scheme”
A letter sent and signed by 48 Republican senators is calling on the administration of President Joe Biden to reverse course on a proposal to change and ATF rule that “would turn millions of law-abiding Americans into criminals overnight, and would constitute the largest executive branch-imposed gun registration and confiscation scheme in American history,” according to the text of the letter.
Only two Republican Senators did not sign the letter, Susan Collins (ME) and Rob Portman (OH), who is not seeking reelection, The Reload reported, who posted a full copy of the letter online.
What’s the issue?
The issue is over stabilizing braces, something used on pistols by disabled persons. If the reclassification occurs, owners who don’t register their guns would face felony charges and up to 10 years in federal prison per gun, the Daily Wire reported.
The rule change under consideration by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) would be one they “seemingly blessed in 2017,” the letter said.
“To one unfamiliar with stabilizing braces, ATF’s proposed rule and the accompanying regulatory analysis suggest that these braces are dangerous alterations to firearms designed to help criminals evade federal law,” the senator said in the letter. “Nothing could be further from the truth, and ATF knows that. After all, it has repeatedly blessed their design, manufacture, sale, and use.”
“The impetus for the manufacture of stabilizing braces was to assist disabled combat veterans in shooting large pistol platforms that were otherwise too cumbersome for a disabled shooter to use,” the letter continued. “In 2012, ATF announced that attaching a stabilizing brace to an AR-type pistol did not convert that pistol-regulated by the [Gun Control Act]-into a short-barreled rifle (SBR) regulated by the [National Firearm Act] and subject to the NFA’s taxation and registration regime. In 2015, ATF announced that attaching a stabilizing brace to a pistol that could allow the pistol to be fired from the shoulder converted that pistol into an SBR. Just two years later, however, in a letter to a manufacturer, ATF appeared to rescind its indefensible 2015 ruling. ATF thereafter issued private letter rulings blessing a wide array of stabilizing brace configurations from a host of manufacturers.”
Senators call out ATF hypocrisy: Ignoring criminals and criminalizing law-abiding gun owners
“A crime wave is sweeping America,” the senators wrote. “These aren’t broken-windows crimes; they are violent crimes like murder, assault, and robbery. But rather than cracking down on the criminals who are turning America’s cities into warzones, ATF and the Department of Justice have decided to go after law-abiding gun owners who are minding their own business and using equipment that ATF seemingly blessed in 2017.”
Rule is “plain wrong”
“This is plain wrong,” the senators concluded in the letter. “The proposed rule is worse than merely abdicating your responsibility to protect Americans from criminals; you’re threatening to turn law-abiding Americans into criminals by imposing the largest executive branch-initiated gun registration and confiscation program in American history. We urge you to turn back. Correct this mistake and withdraw the proposed rule.”
