Your Privacy Choices
On the virtual eve of SHOT Show 2023, the Department of Justice is amending the regulations surrounding the clarification of firearms that constitute a rifle under federal law. At the heart of the ruling is the factoring criteria for firearms with stabilizing braces. Approximately 10 years ago, the ATF evaluated the first device designed to assist people with disabilities while shooting longer/heavier guns. Since then, the market for ‘pistol stabilizing braces’ grew exponentially, with most major manufacturers offering models with braces. The 300 page ruling focuses on six criteria, including weight and length, length of pull, type of sights, the design of the weapon, advertising materials, and general use throughout the community.
A link to the full text is below. Hopefully our friend Daniel Y. will be along soon with a proper analysis of the new ruling.
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- ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F (aka 80% Receiver Rule) Explained
- Is the ATF Mass Disapproving Home-Made Form 1 Suppressors?
FACTORING CRITERIA FOR FIREARMS WITH ATTACHED STABILIZING BRACES
The Department of Justice (“Department” or “DOJ”)is amending the regulations of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (“ATF”) to clarify when a rifle is designed, made, and intended to be fired from the shoulder. Specifically, under the Gun Control Act of 1968 (“GCA”) and the National Firearms Act of 1934 (“NFA”) the definition of “rifle” shall include a weapon that is equipped with an accessory, component, or other rearward attachment (e.g., a “stabilizing brace”) that provides surface area that allows the weapon to be fired from the shoulder, provided other factors, as described in this preamble and in the amended regulations, indicate that the weapon is designed, made, and intended to be fired from the shoulder.
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In 2012, an FFL submitted the first “stabilizing brace” (or “brace” device) to ATF asking if the addition of their prototype “brace” device to a heavy pistol,4 such as an AR- 15 type pistol, would change that pistol’s classification under Federal firearms laws.5 The submitter described that the “brace” device was designed with the intent to assist people with disabilities so that they could fire these kinds of heavy pistols safely and comfortably, as they could be “difficult to control with the one-handed precision stance.” 6 In response to this inquiry, ATF examined the submitted “stabilizing brace” device and found the sample “provide[d] the shooter with additional support of a firearm while it is still held and operated with one hand” and that the device was not “designed or intended to fire a weapon from the shoulder.” Accordingly, ATF concluded that the submitted “brace,” when attached to a firearm, did “not convert that weapon to be fired from the shoulder and would not alter the classification of a pistol or other firearm,” and therefore, “such a firearm would not be subject to NFA controls.”
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Accordingly, the Department amends the definition of “rifle” under 27 CFR 478.11 and 479.11 to expressly state that the term “designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder” includes a weapon that is equipped with an accessory, component, or other rearward attachment (e.g., a “stabilizing brace”) that provides surface area that allows the weapon to be fired from the shoulder, provided other factors, as listed in the amended regulations and described in this preamble, indicate that the weapon is designed, made, and intended to be fired from the shoulder. The other factors are:
- whether the weapon has a weight or length consistent with the weight or length of similarly designed rifles;
- whether the weapon has a length of pull, measured from the center of the trigger to the center of the shoulder stock or other rearward accessory, component or attachment (including an adjustable or telescoping attachment with the ability to lock into various positions along a buffer tube, receiver extension, or other attachment method), that is consistent with similarly designed rifles;
- whether the weapon is equipped with sights or a scope with eye relief that require the weapon to be fired from the shoulder in order to be used as designed;
- whether the surface area that allows the weapon to be fired from the shoulder is created by a buffer tube, receiver extension, or any other accessory, component, or other rearward attachment that is necessary for the cycle of operations;
- the manufacturer’s direct and indirect marketing and promotional materials indicating the intended use of the weapon; and
- information demonstrating the likely use of the weapon in the general community.
All of the objective design features and factors listed in the rule that indicate the weapon is designed, made, and intended to be fired from the shoulder are derived from the NPRM and proposed Worksheet 4999.
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Consequently, many parties in possession of weapon and “brace” combinations that ATF did not specifically classify in the past as being subject to the NFA may have been violating the NFA by possessing an unregistered rifle with a barrel of less than 16 inches.
In addition, where the Department is overruling ATF’s previous classification letters, possessors of the firearms equipped with “stabilizing braces” that were at issue in those letters may also be in possession of unregistered NFA firearms. Prior to the publication of the NPRM and this rule to clarify the regulatory definition of a rifle, many parties did not register these firearms due to a variety of factors discussed in this rule. Therefore, in exercising its enforcement discretion, the Department provides affected persons options that they can choose from by [INSERT DATE 120 DAYS FROM THE DATE OF PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER] to comply with the statutory requirements.
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The Department has determined that, as a matter of its own enforcement discretion, it will not, as the NPRM suggested as an option, require individuals and FFLs without an SOT that timely register their affected weapons with a “stabilizing brace,” which are in their possession as of the date this rule is published, to pay the $200 making tax usually due upon submission of such an application to register.
Likewise,Type7 FFLs (regardless of SOT status) that timely register the weapons with a “stabilizing brace” that qualify as an NFA firearm and that are still in their inventory—i.e., that have not been sold or otherwise transferred—will not owe any making tax for these weapons. Furthermore, the Department has determined that, as a matter of its own enforcement discretion, it will not seek to collect retroactive taxes (i.e., $200 making or $200 transfer tax) typically required for each weapon with a “stabilizing brace” that qualifies as an NFA firearm that was manufactured or transferred at any time prior to the date of the publication of this final rule.
