Guest post by Richard Douglas

If you’re into firearms, then you probably know about the ATF’s brute force bureaucracy and gun legislation (even though they’re not a legislative agency). They have a well-recorded history of coming down hard on firearms and those that own them, frequently in the news for botched raids, civilian injury, and red flag laws.

The ATF’s newest jab at the constitution is an attempt to strengthen restrictions on rifle caliber pistols and inconspicuously creating a national gun registry.

If you’re not up to speed on our current gun laws. You can own a rifle-caliber pistol without tax stamps or special fees, but there are already strict guidelines of what makes it a rifle-caliber pistol and not an SBR(short-barreled rifle). The barrel length can be as short as you want it to, but you’re not allowed to attach buttstock to your weapon. Instead, you must forego a stock completely, or attach what is called a pistol brace or stabilizing brace. These braces are designed to assist disabled people when handling and shooting firearms; they allow a person to shoot rifle-caliber weapons with only one hand.

Since braces are not technically buttstocks, people began using these braces as a substitute to subvert the ATF’s asinine rules.

They subsequently ruled that shouldering these arm braces was now illegal since that single movement turned a rifle-caliber pistol into an SBR, a felony if you did not fork out money for a tax stamp.

After some understandable outcry, the ATF changed the rule on a whim, again, ruling that it is no longer a crime to shoulder a pistol brace. Although the ATF was and is still hated with a passion, these terms were acceptable for the time being, until late 2020 anyway.

In complete disregard for the historical events taking place in our country, with many afraid for their lives and their family’s lives, the ATF again decided it was again time to crack down on legal gun owners in the midst of a global pandemic and domestic civil unrest.

This time though, they started out by sending cease and desist letters to brace manufacturers, namely Q, the proprietors of the famous Honey Badger, ordering them to immediately halt production of pistol brace and weapons with pistol brace attachments.

At this time they also began going after other firearm parts shops that sold certain parts that could be made into a suppressor.

Now the most important part is in the way the ATF presented their guidance.

It’s vague, wildly imprecise, and almost entirely subjective. Guidelines included unclear language like stating that if a rifle has a pistol brace, it needs to have optics at certain angles to assist in one-armed shooting angles, it can’t be “too heavy” to lift with one hand, front grips aren’t allowed because that means you’re using both hands. Finally, they end with a suggestion to gun owners who are predictably confused by all these strange and stringent rules, actually turning your firearm over to the ATF so they can decide for you.

This seemingly suggests that the ATF doesn’t actually have any solid rules, just things that they can decide make your pistol a felony on a whim. Not to mention the 52% of ATF agents that are overweight and out of shape are the ones testing these firearms with presumably weak physiques.

Following public outcry and vilification, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms quietly withdrew this pistol guidance, which may seem like good news (and it is for the moment), but they have made their intentions clear.

It’s quite possible that they’re “testing the waters” before they attempt more restrictive and unconstitutional gun control efforts.

They have set a precedent that they will continue to build on in the future unless someone reigns them in.

Guest Author Bio:

Richard Douglas is a long-time shooter, outdoor enthusiast and technologist. He is the founder and editor of Scopes Field, and a columnist at The National Interest, Cheaper Than Dirt, Daily Caller and other publications.