Global Courant
FIRST ON FOX — The National Rifle Association of America has slammed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with a lawsuit over a rule regulating stabilizing braces for handguns.
In a lawsuit filed Monday, the NRA seeks to “expose the flaws of the new rule — which subjects law-abiding gun owners to penalties, fines and possible prison terms for using an otherwise legal plastic device on some firearms.”
“The NRA has stepped up its violation of this arbitrary and unconstitutional rule,” said NRA Executive Vice President & CEO Wayne LaPierre. “We are confident in our ability to confront the ATF and (the Department of Justice) – and preserve freedom for NRA members.”
The NRA previously filed comments against the rule, filed a motion to intervene in another legal proceeding, and supported a lawsuit filed by several North Dakota attorneys general.
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An attendee views rifles at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention in Indianapolis, April 15, 2023. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)
Pistol brackets are accessories that can be attached to the back of a pistol to facilitate aiming and firing with one hand. The accessories are often used by disabled veterans.
The ATF rule categorizes pistols with bails as short-barreled rifles, which require a federal license to own.
The NRA argues in its complaint that the rule is unconstitutional, as the ATF is reversing its long-standing position that pistol brackets do not turn handguns into rifles subject to heavy registration and taxation requirements under the National Firearms Act.
A gun display at the National Rifle Association annual convention in Indianapolis, April 15, 2023. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)
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The NRA is asking a Texas district court for a preliminary, and eventually permanent, injunction to stop ATF from enforcing the rule against law-abiding NRA members. ATF director Steven Dettelbach and US Attorney General Merrick Garland are also named as defendants in the lawsuit.
The final rule was first announced in January 2023 and was due to take effect on June 1, 2023. Gun rights groups and the state of Texas have sued the government and have now been granted a preliminary injunction against that final rule. The NRA is now seeking “recognition of the irreparable harm its members also face” from the rule. The NRA has approximately 350,000 members in Texas.
According to the complaint, many NRA members are irreparably harmed by the final rule because they are forced to modify their firearms, destroy them, register them or turn them over to the federal government under threat of criminal prosecution.
A Glock 9mm handgun is tested at the NRA’s annual meeting at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on May 28, 2022. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
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“The NRA is pursuing all possible avenues in defense of its law-abiding members and their constitutional freedoms,” said NRA counsel William A. Brewer III. “Our members should be free from the threat of enforcement of this supposedly illegal rule. We are confident that we will prevail in obtaining the same relief for them that has already been granted to members of other gun rights groups.”
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In June, House Republicans, with the help of two Democrats, passed a resolution that would nullify the ATF’s final rule and prevent the ATF from reinstating the same rule in the future.
The resolution now goes to the Senate. If passed by the Senate — an unlikely scenario given its political makeup — and then vetoed by Biden, the House and Senate would need a two-thirds majority to override the presidential veto.
The ATF declined to comment on pending litigation.
Brianna Herlihy is a political writer for Fox News Digital.
