The Biden administration has been temporarily blocked by a federal appeals court from fully implementing new regulations on pistols with stabilizing braces.
These accessories, which President Joe Biden considers "especially dangerous" due to their use in several mass shootings, are the subject of a lawsuit filed by gun owners and Second Amendment groups challenging the regulation. An injunction by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit on Tuesday came just days before a May 31 deadline requiring owners to register their pistol braces, destroy them, or remove them from their weapons.
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Gun rights groups argue that the stabilizing brace rule violates the Constitution as it mandates millions of gun owners to register their weapons. The Firearms Policy Coalition, one of the plaintiffs, deems the rule "onerous and unconstitutional." The FPC appealed to the 5th Circuit after a Texas judge refused to block enforcement of the rule during the ongoing legal challenge.
Biden ushered in the brace rule as part of a gun crime strategy in response to the Boulder, Colorado, grocery store shooting where a firearm with a stabilizing brace was used to kill 10 people. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives defines stabilizing braces as accessories that allow a firearm to be fired from the shoulder, potentially converting a pistol into a short-barreled rifle.
The ATF's rule, finalized in January, categorizes pistols with stabilizing braces as heavily regulated short-barreled rifles due to their accuracy and concealability.
At least 3 million guns with stabilizing braces are currently in the United States, according to the ATF. Other estimates show there could be between 10 million and 40 million stabilizing braces in circulation.
The impact of the 5th Circuit decisions only applies to plaintiffs in the case, including two gun owners and a manufacturer of pistols with stabilizing braces. It has yet to be determined if the rule is blocked for others, such as people who purchased guns from Maxim Defense Industries or members of the FPC.
FPC is seeking clarification on the scope of the injunction, according to Cody J. Wisniewski, senior attorney for the group.
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The ruling comes amid an upheaval in the legal sphere for guns in the country after the Supreme Court voted 6-3 last year to establish new standards for reviewing firearms laws, including that they be "consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation."
The appeals court also ruled in February that the government can't block people with domestic violence restraining orders against them from owning firearms. The Justice Department has called on the Supreme Court to review that decision, calling it a "profound mistake."