As you well know, the left-leaning in our government has been trying to implement more gun control and less American freedoms since before we can remember. One of the more prominent ways of doing this is the continued push to outlaw what they have labeled as ‘assault weapons.’
However, as these firearms are essentially just a form of a sporting rifle and one that’s no more dangerous than your average semi-automatic pistol, they have been unsuccessful.
Their latest attempt is just another example.
Someone on that side of the aisle decided that if they couldn’t ban AR-15s and such, then maybe they could ‘regulate’ near must-have accessories for that class of weapon – such as stabilizing braces.
If you are unfamiliar with firearms or AR-15s in particular, a stabilizing brace, much like its name suggests, is an addition to the weapon to help brace it against your shoulder or arm better, essentially stabilizing the weapon, making it more comfortable to shoot, as well as increase shooting accuracy.
Now, to be clear, these braces are considered an accessory or an addition, transforming what is classified as a pistol into more of a rifle by adding a stock or brace for your arm. However, without the accessory, the gun becomes more unpredictable, as there is nothing to keep it steady. In fact, most models of AR-15 pistols actually come with a brace included for this very reason.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, or ATF, suggested earlier in December that a regulation on these braces be implemented, which, if put into action, would make somewhere between three and four million law-abiding gun owners in the United States suddenly on the wrong side of the law, according to the Washington Examiner.
However, ATF has just announced that they are reversing the proposal.
ATF Associate Deputy Director Marvin Richardson said in a recent statement, “Upon further consultation with the Department of Justice and the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, ATF is withdrawing, pending further Department of Justice review, the notice and request for comments entitled ‘Objective Factors for Classifying Weapons with “Stabilizing Braces”,’ that was published on December 18, 2020.”
Richardson went on to note that as this was a “proposed guidance” and not a regulation, its reversal would not change any current “law, regulation, or other legally binding requirement.” He said that all the notice did was all the firearm industry as well as the public to be informed about possible changes to the law and invited them to comment on it before it was given permanent consideration.
Thankfully, enough people must have voiced their concern about the proposed guidance, including 90 members of Congress.
Last week, these lawmakers, led by Republican House Representative Richard Hudson from North Carolina, came together to sign and send a letter to ATF making them aware of those concerns.
They wrote, “The guidance claims to lay out several ‘objective’ criteria for the design features of which the ATF will use to deem these firearms subject to classification under the National Firearms Act and could turn law-abiding gun owners into criminals overnight.”
ATF must have agreed in the long run.
However, that’s to say that the guidance won’t be imposed at some later date.
As several pointed out, the statement Richardson made notes that the decision is still pending “further Department of Justice review,” and as the DOJ is about to come under the leadership of Joe Biden and his left-leaning and Second Amendment rights hating lackeys, it’s not hard to imagine this being put back on the table in the near future.
Not that imposing the regulation will do anything to change the so-called dangers of guns. As it stands now, gun violence by and far is not done using these “assault weapons.” Instead, the much more common handgun is used in most crimes.
And even then, outlawing a weapon won’t make crimes committed with them non-existent. People are killed every day with common household items such as baseball bats, kitchen knives, and even hammers.
If these items, which according to the FBI’s records for last year killed more people than died of gunshot wounds, won’t be outlawed, then neither should firearms or a brace that actually makes them safer to use.