EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans this week will take a step toward blocking the Biden administration’s new rule that tightens regulations on pistol stabilizing braces, and call the rule an “abuse” of federal authority.
The rule, called Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached Stabilizing Braces, took effect on Jan. 31 after it was finalized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives (ATF). It will treat any firearms with stabilizing accessories as short-barreled rifles, which require a federal license to own under the National Firearms Act.
According to Republicans, the rule would require gun owners to either register pistols with stabilizing braces with the ATF, turn over those firearms, or face 10 years in jail and up to $10,000 in fines.
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Reps. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., and Richard Hudson, R-N.C., are leading the effort in the House of Representatives, and plan to introduce a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution on Monday. The resolution would nullify the Biden administration rule if passed by the House and Senate and signed by President Biden, or if Congress were to override a likely Biden veto.
“Congress must swiftly move to block the ATF’s unconstitutional pistol brace rule, as this misguided measure turns millions of law-abiding gun owners, including many disabled veterans, into criminals for merely possessing legal firearms with stabilizing braces,” Clyde told Fox News Digital ahead of the introduction of the measure.
Clyde told Fox that the ATF’s “abuse of rule-making authority” would violate the Constitution and disregard Congress’ legislative authority, and was “nothing more than a reckless attempt to advance President Biden’s ultimate goal of an unarmed America.”
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“As a fierce defender of our Second Amendment freedoms and one of the few federal firearms licensees in Congress, I’m proud to help lead the fight against the ATF’s latest assault on our unalienable right to keep and bear arms,” he added.
Hudson echoed Clyde’s warning of the rule’s affront to the rights of gun owners across the country. “This rule jeopardizes the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners and disabled combat veterans. I’m proud to lead the fight in blocking the ATF’s unconstitutional pistol brace rule,” he told Fox News Digital.
A similar resolution was introduced in the Senate last week by Sens. John Kennedy, R-La., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan.
Gun Owners of America (GOA), a gun rights advocacy group, told Fox News Digital it was fully supportive of both resolutions, and that it had worked with Clyde and Marshall to draft them. It also dismissed any notion that the Biden administration was operating within its means to enforce the rule.
“Biden’s ATF has no authority to mandate that the owners of up to 40,000,000 pistols destroy, turn in, rebuild, or register those guns with the federal government before their arbitrary May 31st compliance deadline,” Aidan Johnston, GOA’s Director of Federal Affairs, said in a statement.
Other Republican lawmakers also slammed the new rule after it was finalized by the ATF in January, calling it an “unconstitutional overreach” and a “gun registration and confiscation scheme.”
Last month, the National Rifle Association was joined in a lawsuit against the Biden administration over the rule by SB Tactical, B&T USA, wounded warrior Richard Cicero, and a coalition of 25 states led by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley. States signing onto that effort were Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.
Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.