The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is congratulating House Republicans and the two Democrats who joined them to block the Biden administration’s Pistol Brace rule, calling the regulation an “outrageous attack” on the rights of American gun owners, especially disabled veterans, who use the devices.
The 219-210 vote saw two Republicans jump ship to join anti-gun Democrats in opposing the measure. CCRKBA’s sister organization, the Second Amendment Foundation, is already challenging the brace rule in federal court, winning a preliminary injunction.
“We’re encouraged that House Republicans have sided with the nation’s firearm owners in opposing this new arm brace rule,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “The rule was a complete reversal of earlier ATF policy which shows how insidious the Biden administration’s efforts to erode the Second Amendment have become. Joe Biden campaigned on a gun prohibition platform, and now his administration is trying to turn millions of law-abiding citizens, including disabled veterans, into criminals just to advance his agenda.
“We are urging our members and supporters to contact their U.S. Senators in order to speedily move this House resolution through the upper chamber,” he continued. “It is important that gun owners stand together against the Biden administration’s blatant effort to criminalize the exercise of a constitutionally-protected right.”
Gottlieb said it is especially important that Senate Democrats hear from their Second Amendment constituents.
“Senate Democrats have an opportunity to do the right thing,” Gottlieb observed. “They need to hear from the citizens they represent that the time has come to stand with them and the Constitution. The Biden administration’s efforts to weaponize federal agencies and change the rules affecting millions of Americans must come to a halt.
“Gun owners are not the enemy,” he noted. “We’re just honest citizens who are tired of being used as scapegoats and treated like criminals, which is what the pistol brace rule change is really all about. Blocking the pistol brace rule will signal the White House and the ATF to stop playing games with the Second Amendment."
Ultimately, the process is about showing the courts (because that’s where its headed) that the elected lawmakers are opposed to the ATF and other executive branch agencies making actionable laws beyond their purview. And to also weed out the anti-2A snakes.
I would like to think that something along those lines is the motivation behind this effort. But the Republicans have a long history of voting for pro 2A laws that have no chance of passing in order to show how much they supposedly care about the 2A. But then when they are in control of all three branches and could actually get something passed they pretty much always refuse to bring any pro 2A laws to the floor for a vote.
You won’t get any arguments from me on the ineffectiveness of the political class. However, last time there was “3x control”, there were RINO/uniparty trolls as the speaker of the house and head of the senate; two absolutely worthless , so there was no true control to pass any lasting conservative agenda items or rein in spending.
Prohibition – the gift that keeps on giving. The pistol brace rule is about whether the firearm a brace is attached to is a short barreled rifle or not. Of course, short barreled rifles were used by gangsters during Prohibition, so anyone who possess a short barreled rifle must be a gangster. The law against short barreled rifles (and shot guns, compare Canadian laws that do allow short barreled shot guns to the US ban) did not make sense during the 1930s and doesn’t make sense today.
To fix things, the Prohibition ban on short barreled rifles (and shot guns) needs to be repealed. But good luck with that in a Congress that can’t agree on the day of the week.
As a practical matter, it seems unlikely that the ATF’s ban on braces will be reversed in the long run, so people should plan accordingly.
I think if the majority of Republicans were as pro 2A as they claim to be they could have easily seized the opportunity and forced a vote to the floor despite their leadership. Or Trump could have used his bully pulpit to shame them into bringing pro 2A laws to a vote. Instead we got the bump stock ban which pushed open the door leading directly to the pistol brace ban.
Our senators won’t change. our governor and state house wants to take all our guns away because they can’t control the gangs in Chicago to stop all the shootings their.
