Breitbart/AFP/Getty.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has reversed course and will no longer consider reclassifying AR pistols. Breitbart. The ATF was considering putting AR pistols with stabilizing braces under the National Firearm Act as short barreled rifles', which require stronger background checks and taxes. The move was widely rejected by gun rights supporters and Republican politicians. Today the NRA reported that the ATF withdrew the effort. The ATF said the following in their 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. As explained in the notice, the proposed guidance was not a regulation. The notice informed and invited comment from the industry and public on a proposed guidance prior to issuing a final guidance document.
My Comment:
This is rare excellent gun rights news. It looked for sure that the ATF was going to de facto ban AR pistols with braces. That would be a massive change for the negative given how popular those pistols are. And it would be a move that would have had next to zero level of compliance, gun owners wouldn't even consider following the ATF's rules here.
A quick note for non-gun experts out there. AR pistols are based on the AR-15 platform but do not have a stock and thus are classified as a pistol. These pistols are often fitted with wrist braces that allow the weapons to be fired one handed. They can also function as a stock if you use them that way but they are in no way stocks and until recently the ATF agreed. Short barreled rifles are rifles that have barrels shorter than 16 inches and are regulated under the NFA, which require a more vigorous background check and a $200 tax per gun.
To be perfectly honest I always thought that AR pistols were a pretty obvious end run around the NFA. This just goes to show the ingenuity of gun manufacturers and the stupidity of gun laws. People want short firearms and banning them served no purpose. So the gun manufactures followed the law and filled customer demand. And it was a rare case of basically nobody disagreeing with it as I have only rarely heard anti-gun people trying to ban AR pistols. Probably because they didn't even know they existed.
Banning short barreled rifles never made any sense in the first place. Even though short barreled rifles are smaller then normal rifles they aren't concealable and don't offer much of an advantage over carrying a pistol. An AR pistols is more powerful then a normal handgun but without being concealable at all. And they aren't as accurate and as easy to use as a full size rifle. They are kind of the worst of both worlds.
I personally have no desire to own a AR pistol but I have considered buying pistol versions of other rifles, most notably the CZ scorpion. I have wanted a pistol caliber carbine for awhile but haven't had the opportunity to buy one. I am glad that I may have the chance to do so after the great 2020 panic buy subsides... if it ever subsides. And the only reason I don't want an AR pistol is that it would be fairly redundant for me as I already have a full size AR.
This is a major victory for gun owners but I don't know how long it will last. On one hand it's very clear that there is almost zero desire for gun control in the United States after the events of 2020. I can think of no greater advertisement for the 2nd amendment then the combined crises of the Coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter riots. After seeing cites burn and people attacked in the streets even the most progressive lefty realized that guns actually do have a purpose.
On the other it's very disturbing that the ATF brought this up in the first place. And this is under a (relatively) pro-gun Trump administration. If the unthinkable happens and Joe Biden scams his way into the Presidency then all bets are off. I would hope that Biden would have the same realization that Obama must have had, going after guns would not only hurt him politically, it could lead to violence and even civil war. But Biden is barely alive anymore and I have zero trust in Kamala Harris being any better. And even if Trump manages to defend his presidency, it's not like he has been great on gun rights. After all the ATF did this under him and though he might have had something to do with them dropping it, it's still not much of a relief.
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