“Voting on this rule will make it obvious which members support the Second Amendment. Refusing to act will only hurt my colleagues’ election chances and further deteriorate the trust Second Amendment supporters have with this Congress.”
On June 1st, the Biden administration will launch a particularly egregious assault against law-abiding firearms owners through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)’s “Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached ‘Stabilizing Braces’” rule — and Congress may not even vote on the proposed change.
By no stretch of the imagination is this a partisan issue, despite some vulnerable members’ concern that this is a controversial topic — far from it! On the contrary, supporting this rule is the radical position which will require an answer from enraged voters. Since pistols and people with disabilities exist in every congressional district, all constituencies are affected by this rule.
Congressional Research Service estimates up to 40 million pistol braces are in circulation among Americans. When Americans legally bought their ATF-approved pistol braces several years ago and attached it to their firearm — making it more concealable (in theory) but easier for the disabled to use — how could they know that on June 1st, 2023 they would be made de facto felons for their legal purchase?
No member of Congress should want to see any of their constituents face prison time and enormous fines for buying a device approved by the ATF at the time of purchase, sanctioned by the Second Amendment, and upheld by numerous Supreme Court decisions including last year’s NYSRPA v. Bruen which affirmed any law related to firearms must conform to American history, text, and tradition. This rule is an unprecedented infringement to the largest scale in American history.
