The United States Federal Government has finally entered into a legal agreement on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF’s) “Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached Stabilizing Braces” rule, marking the official end of the rule.
The settlement was in the case of Mock v. Bondi (formerly known as Mock v. Garland), which was filed by the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) and Maxim Defense against the DOJ and ATF. The suit challenged the legality of the pistol stabilizing brace rule. The plaintiffs claimed that the rule violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). The APA is a law that governs the creation of federal regulations through the rule-making process.
After former President Joe Biden took office, he ordered the ATF to reconsider its stance on pistols equipped with stabilizing braces. For years, the ATF considered pistols equipped with braces as Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA) firearms, meaning that they could be transferred or owned like any other GCA gun. President Biden wanted these firearms to be regulated like National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) items. That would require registering the firearm with the ATF, submitting fingerprints and photos, engraving the gun, and paying a $200 tax stamp fee.
After being ordered by Biden to change the rules, the ATF unveiled a proposed rule. The proposed rule included Worksheet 4999. Worksheet 4999 was a point system to help gun owners know if their pistols with stabilizing braces were viewed as short-barreled rifles (SBRs) by the ATF. An SBR is a rifle with a barrel less than 16 inches. Hundreds of thousands of comments were submitted by the gun-owning community about the proposed rule. The ATF is supposed to consider these comments when crafting the final rule.
When the final rule was unveiled, the rule bore no resemblance to the proposed rule. Worksheet 4999 was completely missing. The rule effectively classified nearly all pistols with stabilizing devices as SBRs. A final rule doesn’t have to be identical to a proposed rule. But, it must be a logical outgrowth of the proposed rule. If it is not a logical outgrowth, then the rule violates the APA. This point is what the plaintiffs argued, as well as the ATF’s overstepping of its power by attempting to enact law through executive fiat.
At the Federal District Court level in Texas, a federal judge would find in favor of the plaintiffs and vacate the rule. The Department of Justice (DOJ) would appeal the decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. They would ask the Circuit Court to stay the lower court’s decision, but that was denied. This appeal was filed during the final months of the Biden Administration.
After President Donald Trump took office, the DOJ asked for a 60-day pause in the case to review the government’s actions. This request came after President Trump’s executive order to review any cases that violate an American’s right to bear arms. The government would decide that the case violated the Second Amendment and enter into an agreement with the Plaintiffs. The defendants voluntarily dropped their appeal, stipulating that neither side would seek legal costs. The decision means that the pistol brace rule is officially dead.
This voluntary dismissal of the government’s appeal is just the latest example of the government’s more pro-gun stance. Whereas the last administration put their full force behind trying to infringe on Americans’ firearms rights, the current administration is looking at rolling back some of those infringements.
About John Crump
Mr. Crump is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people from all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons, follow him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
So the “Rule” is null-n-void due to the ‘APA’.
This DOES NOT stop the ATF from rewriting it a little differently now or later.
The ONLY Solution is REMOVING both Silencers and ‘Short-Barreled-Rifles’ including the pistols with braces, from the NFA, with Only a background check required.
This is a Band-Aid on a Mortal Wound. This could change as soon as 2026.
REMOVE those Items from the NFA! or GET RID of the NFA in it’s entirety.
Nothing else is Satisfactory
Another temporary fix with no real stoppage
Yeah, until the next Tyrannical Administration reinvigorates it.
Not dead, just on hiatus…
criminal action needs to be taken against atf administrators that pushed unconstitutional edict, would stop this type of bs in future
should have made atf bear all costs a true loss
And that is not all that Trump did: “ The One Big Beautiful Bill Act … there’s a part no one’s talking about: it could flood the market with small arms ammo and keep prices low. … $100 Million for Small & Medium Ammo“(39) $100,000,000 for the production of small and medium ammunition; … What It Means: This part gives $100 million to make more “small and medium ammunition,” like .223 Remington and 5.56 NATO. Places like Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Missouri, the biggest maker of small arms ammo for the U.S. military, will likely get some of this cash. Lake City makes 1.4–1.6 billion rounds… Read more »
This will last only as long as a president and ATF abide by it. Now, what happens after Trump, if someone openly hostile to 2A takes up residence in the White House, and the ATF is still in the civil disarmament business?
Finally! this was a long time coming. this was bovine excrement from the start especially with the bogus form 4999. an attempt to make this illegal regulation seem somewhat compliant with the rule making process.
now, onto the next restriction of civil rights!
So ATF is not going to enforce the rule they wrote – however I do not believe it is safe yet to add brace and scope to my pistol in order to turn it into the pseudo-SBR it was always meant to be.
I am allergic to both lead poisoning (a la Malinowski) and confinement (a la Matt Hoover and Justin Ervin). Until there is clear directive making it legal, as there was pre-Biden, I will stick to pistols and long barreled rifles.