Michigan –-(AmmoLand.com)- On Friday, January 13th (a fitting day perhaps), the BATF published on its website the release of the final rule on “Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached ‘Stabilizing Braces’” which can be found at ATF.gov.
The gist of the rule is that essentially every pistol brace, when attached to a firearm, creates a short-barreled rifle (SBR) which must be registered under the National Firearms Act (NFA).
The rule doesn’t take effect until it is officially published in the Federal Register. But I have seen one article mention that it may be published today. However, today is a federal holiday which typically would mean that it would not be published until the following day.
There will be a 120-day grace period for registering the pistol brace SBR, and the $200 tax stamp will be waived.
However, the firearm may only be registered in an individual’s name to get the $200 waiver. If someone wants to register the pistol to a trust, it must have been owned by the trust prior to the official publication of the rule and proof of the transfer will need to be submitted. See Question 12 of the Frequently Asked Questions.
There may be a small window, perhaps closing as early as this morning, January 16, 2023, to assign your pistol brace-equipped firearms to your NFA trust in order to get the items registered to the trust without paying a fee. I would suggest that you sign a notarized “assignment to trust” of the item(s) that you are transferring to you trust. If you cannot get to a notary in time, most of them will be off today, perhaps a signed and dated assignment with a witness or two may suffice. If the transfer is not done in time, you can still register the item as an individual and then later transfer it to a trust at which point it will cost $200.
If you do not already have an NFA trust, you may wish to get one ASAP. The main advantages of an NFA trust are expanding the number of people who can be authorized to use and possess the items and a more streamlined transfer of ownership upon the original owner’s death. For more details, see this recent article.
Charles E. Cottrell
Attorney at Law
2025 E. Beltline SE, Suite 402
Grand Rapids, MI 49546
616-560-3843
[email protected]
About Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners:
The Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners is a non-profit, non-partisan organization. Formed from just eight people in 1996, we now have thousands of members and numerous affiliated clubs across the state. We’re growing larger and more effective every day.
Our mission statement is: “Promoting safe use and ownership of firearms through education, litigation, and legislation” Visit: www.mcrgo.org
BATFE has no authority to redefine the statutory definition of “rifle” to make braced pistols into rifles, nor to write or alter criminal statutes. Nor do they have legal authority to accept an NFA registration for an item that is not being made or transferred: it is already an NFA item according to their warped usurping of Congressional authority, so it cannot be added to the NFA registry. They also have no power to waive or delay the tax mandated by Congress. The entire rule is unconstitutional.
jail and execute the people violating title 18 ,criminal activity under color of law
Starting with Lon Horiuchi (sp).
That cuts the other way too. Maybe they had no authority to say a longer barreled pistol that fires centerfire rifle cartridges is legal to occasionally shoulder if there is a brace that makes it easier on the rifle. I’m sort of playing devil’s advocate here. If you use your braced pistol here only as a pistol bc you’re disabled, you should be pissed, but if you have a braced pistol that you use the brace as a stock, well it seems like you were breaking the intent of the NFA anyway. My solution is no brace.
You solution reeks of a nose that smells of dung.
anyone remember colt butline 16 in barrel and a stock claim to fame dodge city shootout at ok corral??
And the one Charles Manson used in the Tate, LaBianca murders?
Correct on all points, but when has that ever stopped them? Look at the Bump Stock Ban. How many destroyed their stocks, before we finally got the correct decision from the 5th Circuit? 1/4? 1/2? Will any manufacturer begin producing them as long as SCOTUS hasn’t backed up the 5th’s decision? I doubt it. The same thing will happen with this rule. It will languish within the Judicial System for several years, meanwhile, a percentage of owners will comply with the Amnesty Registeration. A percentage will destroy their stock and convert their pistols to rifles with a barrel swap, and… Read more »
and some will put it in the safe and wait
same with the forced reset triggers , glad I paid cash at ft lauderdale sale
It’s called sacrifice for freedom and liberty.”“We Must All Hang Together, or Most Assuredly, We Will All Hang Separately”. Benjamin Franklin made this statement at the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He was of course referring to the need for the signers, and the states they represented, to stick together against a common enemy, Great Britain.” These 56 put their nuts on the line for me along with 80 some of my relatives, my nuts are just as worthy on the alter of freedom.
The ATF was created solely for the purpose of continued employment of former Revenue Agents, whose jobs ended with the repeal of Prohibition. That is why the NFA and ATF exist, to cover up the government’s F**k Up in passing Prohibition. They created the very problem they addressed. The whole scheme was Unconstitutional to begin with and never really challenged by competent legal teams. The first court that upheld it, was clueless to its impacts.
wo to men woman’s temperance movement pushed prohibition (karens of their day)
Absolutely true, and not enough know it. They are getting their budget doubled by the omnibus and will ask for even more, to double in size and claim they still need more to process these brace applications. Six months from now, they will reimagine “assault weapons” as “readily restored machine guns” and demand NFA REGISTRATION for them as well. Then because they are post 1986 machine guns, will send confiscation /surrender letters.
I’m pretty sure I herd Rep Jim Jordan mention the new Congress is looking to start slashing all of these run-away budgets and get rid of the idea of the 87,000 extra agents, etc.
Store your brace in a cool dry place until the SCOTUS does away with this just like the bumpstock ban . The overreaching ATF will be educated by the SCOTUS soon that they are not lawmakers , just law breakers .
Yeah, 5 or 6 years down the road.
given the intensity and the millions affected, i doubt it will be long at all.
So, by removing the “brace” and leaving the exposed buffer tube exposed is it still a S.B.R.??? Just asking. A well regulated militia being necessary to a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The second amendment to the constitution of the United States of America. Is not constitutional law higher than all other laws? Is the atfe even allowed to make law? I thought that congress did that and that it had to pass muster at scotus., alas, maybe we live in russia or china or north korea or laos… Read more »
Bill, do you or anyone else on this board really think those 87,000 new “IRS” agents are really going to be Tax Collectors? Hell no they aren’t. They are going to add to the growing number of Federal Agents armed and ready to enforce whatever declarations this Demented, drooling Pedophile and his Low IQ Hooker occupying the White House decide to put out regarding the suspension of our Bill of Rights. The one positive about all this is that most of them are Millennials that are fat, stupid and gutless wonders who’ve watched one too many episodes of CSI, NCIS… Read more »
need a 50 cal Gatling gun , I dont have 100,000 rounds but 20k is a start
No. Remove your brace and you have a pistol so long as you aren’t putting it back on to shoot it. You can even shoulder it if you’re man enough to take the recoil through that buffer tube against your shoulder.
Sort of strange how they would want us to be less accurate with a deadly weapon. Using a stock obviously makes it controllable by the user. The whole insanity of regulating the length of a barrel is beyond any reasonable common sense.
not quite. it seems number 4 (iv) eliminates that qualifier….. ” The rule then amends the existing definition of “rifle” by adding the following. (1) For purposes of this definition, the term “designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder” shall include a weapon that is equipped with an accessory, component, or other rearward attachment (e.g., a “stabilizing brace”) that provides surface area that allows the weapon to be fired from the shoulder, provided other factors, as described in paragraph (2), indicate that the weapon is designed, made, and intended to be fired from… Read more »
Starting in July all new construction in the Soviet of Washington prohibits natural gas hookups! Unbelievable. I bet 90% or more of the blissfully ignorant people in this state have no clue that this is happening.
Almost. In the new group of regs is a provision that new construction must be sighted and new roofs must include hardware to accept solar, they just aren’t requiring panels…yet.
Nuclear power is already safe, and has been for 50 years: when engineered, constructed and operated by first world, educated professionals and experts without cutting corners.
The only thing I don’t like about the nuclear reactor in Wyoming is that Bill Gates is involved. Too bad he didn’t die when accosting little girls on Epsteins island.
I guess I am one of those 90% but I am not blissful. First I have heard of this and I watch the news religiously. Is this one of the ‘rule changes’ brought on by Inslee, just like the ATF rule on pistol braces? I guess I should be happy cuz the value of my aging home just went up 300%! I got gas!
Me too and I just installed a new dual fuel HVAC system, however, unless we can get this changed, I haven’t mentioned what they have done to windows (UFactor 0.24), that means triple pane. Contractors are freaking out, where are we going to buy propane and service parts above our expertise?
If you heard all the BS Joe said yesterday in a speech about F-15’s and how he WILL enact another ban on assault weapons, I doubt all this crap will come into fruition……I pray
Yeah, but someone is hitting him up with amphetamines and giving him what Biden thinks is his chance at being a standup comic. he ain’t funny and thas no joke brother.
Same here. We are living in strange and dangerous times. I can’t believe the folks in the DC area are not out on the streets and protesting this nonsense. Peacefully of course.We have a dual justice system in this country that is politically motivated. Time for a BIG change.
Let him try. That sick senile corrupt pedo must learn.
She is just another skidmark on unca joey’s upper lip……….
If they want my gas stove, they can come and bake it.
Hahaha
Do you honestly believe our Elections are Free, Honest and Fair? Democrats have been scamming the system for over 200 years and getting away with it, and they’revery good at it. Corrupted courts refuse to intervene. That’s the real reason why we didn’t see a Red Wave last November.
I seriously doubt we’ll see another Republican President in the next 20 years.
It is hard to stand back and look at the situation from the outside, looking in; but when I manage it, I have to concede you are probably correct.
Bill, we had this discussion on another forum. The couple of Lawyers that were one there spelled their analysis as this. Brace or no brace, if the barrels under 16″, ATF now declares it an SBR, even if the brace is removed and all you have is an exposed buffer tube.
“Sammy used to love homegrown green beans” said the man sitting next to me at the dinner table referring to the beans that my wife had cooked us for dinner that evening. When I heard him say that I almost choked on mine. Sammy was a 14 year old boy who had heard his dog barking and thought he had stirred up a deer. Sammy ran out with his rifle to check what the dog was barking at. About the time he reached the area where the dog was a man dressed all up in camouflage shot his friend and… Read more »
Great narrative, thank you for writing it here. i will always regret not doing what I wanted to at that time. it might have helped save some of those other innocent lives later on. It still remains in some of my worst nightmares. Carry on.
Ope, the reason is: Most of us here fear God even if they don’t want to admit it. Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord. and THAT is why….He shall get his and, like all of us will reap what we sow.
Yup, well said, I remember.
Arm up and carry on
i had the honor of meeting Weaver and his daughter several times at area gun shows when his book came out. his gentle demeanor and humility was quite a shock given everything he had been through. and all for cutting that shotgun barrel one eighth of an inch below the legal 18″ limit. ONE EIGHTH!!
buried inside the 270 page ruling, exposed carbine multi position extensions are not good enough. the plain round ones will pass…. for now.
Electric stoves use power from the power plants that use coal to generate power? How is this better? Inquiring minds want to know!
Start using coal bbq every weekend now, just to make them wet themselves in frustration. Make kingsford coal and lighter fluid smells fill the neighborhood.
F15 lol. They got their azzez handed to them by an unarmed half naked guy wearing a buffalo hat
My biggest concern is all of those dimwits across the country that are going to say, “Uh? Okay!” and comply with these unconstitutional demands As it is also the responsibility and duty of firearms owners to KNOW what they have and KNOW the law when they purchase, posses and maintain this hardware. To fall for unconstitutional and in many cases ex-post facto bureaucracies relates to the intelligence of the gun owner. Then again, isn’t the FBI tasked with protecting our CIVIL RIGHTS?
that is what they are supposed to do……..but never have …criminals all
their job is to cover their asses because they are going to get fuc,,,,ked soon
I hope it’s with a rough-sanded telephone pole.
With protruding nails.
And splinters from climbing spikes.
How about we use a full auto Lucille on their faces?
THAT is exactly right. So how is it that 20-40 million gun owners are STILL sitting silently cowered away in their corners and NOT saying anything or doing anything about this? The citizens’ “customer service department” only stops providing customer service when WE allow it to close!
Fu#k atf and their extended families.
Try them for their crimes.
NEVER allow these assholes to hold a position of honor in the U.S..
PUBLISH THEIR HOME ADDRESSES!!!!!!
My view of the whole matter…
As the only remedies available to resolve this are court action and eventually maybe Congress changing the laws, this is your daily reminder that any vote for any Democrat at any level is a vote for gun control, registration and ultimately confiscation.
The “only remedies”? LOL.
What about those who have “built” AR Pistols with 80% Lowers? Because those guns have no Serial Number, they can’t be registered for a Tax Stamp, as that’s a requirement for registration under the NFA.
Are those people just screwed? Because that’s what it sure looks like to me.
you can have it engraved. the guidelines call for your name, city/state and a unique serial number of your choosing. must be done to the right depth and sufficient size of lettering. lol…. ive seen several with FJB before the numbers.
i was referring to the basic information atf requires on 80% home builds should they ever be sold, NFA’d or transferred to an FFL/ licensed gunsmith.
factory mfg lowers have everything… minus your trust data.
I get the “resist registration” thing but being locked up or gunned down by some FedBoi brownshirt isn’t my retirement plan. But I already have an NFA trust, so I’m already on The List. Rather than SBR, I’m in the “Surprise SBS” category with this ruling. I have heard that registration is a Form 1 which is technically a permission-slip for manufacturing, right? Has anyone determined if these re-categorized guns have to be engraved with the additional details normally required by Form 1? (In other words, more than just the manufacturer’s S/N?) Based on the article it seems I missed… Read more »
Turns out the ATF FAQ addresses engraving … subjects of the crown may “inherit” the manufacturer’s engraving. The FAQ also notes shotguns are not eligible for the tax forebearance. Why? Who knows. But that means a $200 tax to register, then a $200 tax to transfer to my trust. Per gun. Great observation from GOA: The ATF reportedly processed 512,315 NFA forms in 2020. At that rate – assuming no further backlog and assuming all affected gun owners comply with gun registration – it would take the ATF over 78 years to process all the pistol registration forms required by… Read more »
Based upon a footnote saying that individuals is used to mean legal entities includes individual people, FFLs, Corporations and trusts. Thus initial registration would be to trust. No need for registration plus transfer.
The FAQ also notes the trust must own the firearm prior to the rule being published — which is in the article we’re replying to.
How could you miss window of opportunity to transfer to your trust? Are you in a state requiring registration or something? My trust has no list of possessions other than suppressors registered to it under NFA. I can simply decide that something belongs to the trust and it does. Since I tell no one, no one knows when item was transferred. Have read that you can delist certain NFA items – SBR or SBS in particular. For example if you decide to permanently mount a full length barrel, you can apply for delisting from AFT. Thereafter it is illegal to… Read more »
Fact is…and Chairman Xiden has to know this…SOMEONE has to fly those F15’s and if they are going to be used against the citizens of this country SOME of those guys just might turn out to be on our side as they strafe the Whitehouse or Air Farce one when the decrepit child abuser is in it.
Compliance is complicity. This is all about registration. Creating millions of felon’s instantly is stupid; resist, and sabotage. Massive non-compliance will render ATF impotent and they will end up going the way of the SSS in the 1970’s.
F-atf!
Here’s a question for you. If I register my braced pistol, for free, as an SBR, would I be allowed to take the brace off and put an actual stock on it? An SBR is an SBR, right?
May not have happened if all the self pro claimed firearms experts on Youtube didn’t start getting cute
I agree. I started getting emails, clicked on something that I shouldn’t have, from Classic Firearms about 2 years ago. They produce tons of videos featuring an asshat named Clint and I suppose it’s his dumpy blonde wife/sidekick to go along with their spam. It seemed every other video they posted was an iteration of some AR pistol with brace. Never once did they explain a brace, the correct way to use one or provide any useful information. Rather every video showed them abusing the brace. I emailed them several times asking questions about their public display of improper brace… Read more »
Yeah. I dumped Classic Firearms. After signing up I received more Spam in a week, than I had in the 10 years prior. Won’t convince me those Bozos don’t sell subscriber’s emails.
No.
Yeah yeah, it sucks, but let’s be honest… the whole “wrap an elastic band around a stock-like attachment so we can call it a pistol” idea was clearly just trying to exploit a loophole from the beginning. As I see it, everyone like myself who bought or made an AR pistol (or AK, or whatever) knew that someday they were going to close the loophole. At least we got a few years of the ATF being willing to look the other way before these “stabilizing braces” became so prevalent that they finally decided to take action. The $200 tax stamp waiver seems fair… Read more »
BOOYAH! https://www.ammoland.com/2023/01/5th-circuit-court-invalidates-atf-bump-stock-rule-congress-not-atf-makes-law/?ct=t(RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN)#axzz7qkuwVJL1
It was a pistol when I bought it, I’ve changed nothing, so therefore it’s still a pistol.
I do, however, plan on taking advantage of the free tax stamp to register a lower receiver and then turn it into an actual SBR. I’ve got the perfect host, my PSA Let’s Go Brandon lower.
Edited to add:
I can’t register them now anyway since I just had this boating accident where they all sank. Oh well.
Pics…and a link?
ATF did not just make this law. It was created in 1934. ATF just ruled that braces are stocks. And everyone knows they are stocks.
And it’s still just as unconstitutional now as it was then.
You are correct. The right answer is to rescind NFA. Problem solved and peace restored 🙂
Get over it. These have always been short-barreled rifles and you all know it. Register them, save $200 or go directly to jail.
Yeah, just shut up and get in the boxcar!