I received this email this morning.
ATF is publishing the objective factors it considers when evaluating firearms with an attached stabilizing brace to determine whether they are considered firearms under the National Firearms Act (NFA) and/or the Gun Control Act.
ATF publishes this notice to inform and invite comment from the industry and public on the proposed guidance prior to issuing a final document. Upon issuance of final guidance, ATF will provide additional information to aid persons and companies in complying with federal laws and regulations.
This notice also outlines ATF’s enforcement priorities regarding persons who, prior to publication of this notice, made or acquired, in good faith, firearms equipped with a stabilized brace.
Finally, this notice previews ATF’s and the Department of Justice’s plan to subsequently implement a separate process for current possessors of stabilizer-equipped firearms to choose to register such firearms in compliance with the NFA, including an expedited application process and the retroactive exemption of such firearms from the collection of NFA taxes.
Read the general notice
Submit a Comment by January 4
You may submit comments, identified by docket number ATF 2020R-10, by any of the following methods:
- Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
- Mail: Office of Regulatory Affairs, Enforcement Programs and Services, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, 99 New York Ave. NE, Mail Stop 6N-518, Washington, DC 20226; ATTN: ATF 2020R-10
- Fax: (202) 648-9741
All comments must reference this document’s docket number (ATF 2020R-10), be legible, and include the commenter’s complete first and last name and full mailing address. ATF will not consider, or respond to, comments that do not meet these requirements or comments containing excessive profanity.
Written comments must be postmarked and electronic comments must be submitted on or before January 4, 2021. All properly completed comments received will be posted without change to the Federal eRulemaking portal, www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided.
Here’s a link to the Federal Register item.
Objective Factors for Classifying Weapons with “Stabilizing Braces”
I always had a feeling that as soon as an anti-gun democrat got into the White House it would come up for review. There’s probably a couple of million braces in circulation at this point, and this would potentially make criminals out of people that purchased them while they were legal to own.
This excerpt from the ATF email is a look at where they intend to address this problem;
“This notice also outlines ATF’s enforcement priorities regarding persons who, prior to publication of this notice, made or acquired, in good faith, firearms equipped with a stabilized brace.
Finally, this notice previews ATF’s and the Department of Justice’s plan to subsequently implement a separate process for current possessors of stabilizer-equipped firearms to choose to register such firearms in compliance with the NFA, including an expedited application process and the retroactive exemption of such firearms from the collection of NFA taxes.”
The normal NFA process is expensive and tedious to go through, (I’m going to cut this down to where it applies to short barreled rifles, shotguns and suppressors, there a lot of other items on the NFA list that are not relevant to this discussion)
Generally the process is filling out a Form 1 or Form 4 and submitting it to the ATF along with a set of fingerprints and a check for $200. During this process, approval from the head of local law enforcement is also required. Being approved is not automatic, even if you pass the federal background check, your local law enforcement agency can decline it as well.
The key part of this is that you may not possess the NFA item until your application has been approved and you are physically in possession of the tax stamp and approval notice. There are also regulations regarding the transportation of NFA items across state lines. Since most of the people that will be affected by this are already in possession of the braces, it’s going to be a problem.