I’m a Gun Owner, and I Know How Important It Is to Regulate Stabilizing Braces
I am a gun owner and a proud New Yorker.
I grew up around guns, sport shooting upstate with my family. I know what it means to be a responsible gun owner, to have respect for the Second Amendment, and to want to protect public safety. As a member of GIFFORDS Gun Owners for Safety, I work with other gun owners across the country to advocate for commonsense solutions to address gun violence while protecting our rights to have firearms.
That’s why I’m disturbed to learn that some members of Congress are trying to undo a federal rule regulating stabilizing braces. By attaching a stabilizing brace to certain semiautomatic pistols, you can create a short-barreled rifle—a weapon as lethal as an AR-15, but concealable and maneuverable like a handgun.
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Creating a concealable pistol that has the control and accuracy of a rifle is of great interest to individuals who intend to perpetrate horrific crimes, and they’ve been used in many mass shootings in recent years, including in Nashville, Colorado Springs, Boulder, and Dayton. Some pistols equipped with stabilizing braces are even capable of firing rifle caliber rounds, which can penetrate the soft body armor used by law enforcement.
There are certainly many responsible gun owners who use stabilizing braces who are not a threat to public safety, greatly outnumbering gun owners who seek to do harm. But over the years, the design of stabilizing braces has evolved and modern braces are easily used to create short-barreled rifles.
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That’s why the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)—the federal agency that oversees the firearm industry—recently finalized a rule regulating these devices. It’s not a ban, and it doesn’t do anything new—federal law has mandated strong regulation of short-barreled rifles since 1934 under the National Firearms Act (NFA). This rule ensures that ATF is able to enforce the law and regulate semiautomatic pistols equipped with stabilizing braces to keep the public safe.
There are many ways for gun owners to keep using braces, including attaching the braces to longer barreled pistols or, if a pistol equipped with a brace does meet the specs of a short-barreled rifle under the NFA, simply registering it. ATF has even waived the standard NFA tax under the rule, so gun owners aren’t bearing a financial burden to follow the law. With this rule, our federal government is just balancing the threat these devices pose to public safety while still respecting the rights of law-abiding gun owners.
Yet some members of Congress are trying to overturn this rule, falsely claiming it is out of step with ATF’s responsibilities and that ATF is trying to take away the rights of gun owners.
I want to be clear: This rule is not limiting any responsible gun owners rights to have or use firearms. It is about ensuring weapons are classified and regulated under federal laws that have been on the books for decades.
I am asking members of Congress, as a gun owner and a New Yorker, to listen to your constituents. Listen to the gun owners who, like me, know this rule is not going to limit our freedoms—but that it can help keep communities safe from gun violence. Congress should not repeal ATF’s stabilizing brace rule and put Americans at risk for further gun violence. We must all come together to fight for a safer future.
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