BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today accused the Biden administration of “attempting to once again trample on the rights of gun owners” by allowing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to adopt a “ final rule” on modern arm braces. semi-automatic pistols.
While the definition of a rifle in federal law should be clear, said attorney Chad Flores, who is representing SAF in a federal lawsuit filed two years ago that the court stayed in anticipation of this new rule, it is clear that the new administration of Biden’s definition of a rifle ignores tradition. SAF sued ATF and the US Attorney General in 2021 in a case known as SAF et. Alabama. v. BATFE, et. Alabama.
SAF is joined in that case by Rainier Arms, LLC and two private citizens, Samuel Walley and William Green. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.
According to Flores’ analysis of the 291-page Final Rule, the definition of a “rifle” now becomes a bewildering six-factor test. This new definition can be controlled not by the objective characteristics of the firearm, but rather by what ATF agents in DC think of a manufacturer’s marketing materials or the “probable use” of the firearm. The new rule itself is forced to admit its dramatic result: Under this new defining regime, “it is likely that most existing firearms equipped with a ‘stabilizer brake’ would be classified as ‘rifles.'”
“The Biden administration’s new definition of a rifle nullifies the very desire of Congress to change reasonable expectations to stabilize users and manufacturers of orthotic devices across the country,” Flores said.
SAF founder and executive vice president Alan M. Gottlieb noted that the foundation’s 2021 lawsuit raised critical points about what ATF has now embraced.
“When we started this process,” Gottlieb said, “we anticipated where the agency’s efforts would lead. With our co-plaintiffs, we will continue to challenge this new prosthetic arm rule.”
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publication, and legal action group focusing on the constitutional right and inheritance to own and own guns. fire privately. Founded in 1974, the Foundation has grown to more than 720,000 members and supporters and runs many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.