On Monday, the White House announced that President Joe Biden would veto a resolution led by Republicans that would protect Americans’ access to pistol braces.
The measure, introduced by GOP Rep. Andrew Clyde (GA), would pause the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) rule announced earlier this year that put regulations in place on pistol stabilizing braces.
As Townhall covered, a pistol brace, also known as a stabilizing brace, is a device attached to the rear of a firearm that allows the weapon to be fired one-handed. Once Biden became president, the ATF announced a new rule that would reverse a decade-long policy that permitted the use of pistol braces. The new rule determined that pistols with a stabilizing brace would be reclassified as “short-barreled rifles” and that existing pistols with braces be registered with the federal government.
In a statement, the White House Office of Management and Budget said that it disapproves of H.J. Res. 44 and blamed pistol braces for “mass carnage” at several shootings (via the White House):
For decades, Federal law has placed stricter regulations on certain types of firearms, including short-barreled rifles. The rationale is clear: short-barreled rifles are more concealable than long guns, yet more dangerous and accurate at a distance than traditional pistols. For these reasons, they are particularly lethal, which is why Congress has deemed them to be dangerous and unusual weapons subject to strict regulation since 1934. Recently, however, the gun industry has circumvented this longstanding law by manufacturing and selling so-called “stabilizing braces” that convert heavy pistols into shortbarreled rifles. As a result of this industry innovation, in the past few years we have witnessed mass shooters – including those in Dayton, Ohio, and Boulder, Colorado – use these “brace” devices on heavy pistols in order to inflict mass carnage.
In January 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a final rule – after a 90-day notice and comment period – to address the gun industry’s evasions of Federal law by making explicit that certain firearms equipped with an accessory, component, or other rearward attachment (like a “stabilizing brace”) are short-barreled rifles that are uniquely dangerous and regulated under existing law. Even though Congressional Republicans should take additional action to keep these and other dangerous weapons off our streets, they are instead pushing a resolution to reverse this rule and the progress we have made to enforce existing statutory requirements on these dangerous weapons.
This Administration has no higher priority than keeping the American people safe, which is jeopardized with a vote in support of a resolution that makes it easier for mass shooters to obtain these deadly weapons.
If H.J. Res. 44 were presented to the President, he would veto it.
In a congressional hearing earlier this year, Rep. Bryon Donalds (R-FL) pointed out that the ATF’s new rule, which completely bypassed the legislative process, essentially turned 10 million Americans into felons.
“Do you think it’s okay for the ATF to act outside of congressional legislative authority criminalizing 10 million Americans who are currently law-abiding citizens?” Donalds said, pointing out that the ATF said that stabilizing braces were legal until recently.
🔥🔥🔥@RepDonaldsPress GRILLs Democrats’ witness on the Biden ATF acting unilaterally to turn millions of law-abiding citizens into felons overnight. pic.twitter.com/7vWT5iXNyk
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) March 23, 2023
In the hearing, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) pointed out that the fundamental issue behind the rule change was that there was no bill in Congress for the change. And, Jordan said he’s heard that as many as 40 million Americans could own the product.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/U6od8PTB5T
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) March 23, 2023