DOJ Filing Reveals ATF Still Targeting Brace Owners

A recent DOJ legal filing has reignited serious concerns that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives still intends to pursue NFA enforcement against law-abiding Americans who own braced pistols. Acting AG Todd Blanche's DOJ submitted language that NRA-ILA warns could leave the door wide open for future regulatory targeting of brace owners.

This isn't a new fight. The ATF spent years flip-flopping on pistol braces — issuing guidance letters, reversing them, then dropping a sweeping 2023 rule that overnight turned millions of peaceable gun owners into potential felons. Federal courts pushed back hard and struck the rule down. Gun owners thought they'd won.

They were wrong to relax.

NRA-ILA has tracked every twist in this regulatory roller coaster and is sounding the alarm again. The new DOJ filing indicates the agency hasn't abandoned the legal theory that a brace can transform a pistol into a short-barreled rifle — a federally regulated firearm requiring NFA registration, a $200 tax stamp, and a months-long government approval process.

Let that sink in. A $20 piece of polymer on the back of your legally purchased pistol could still be the hook ATF uses to make you a federal criminal.

Braced pistols are owned by millions of Americans — including disabled veterans and shooters with limited mobility who rely on them for stability and control. The ATF's repeated attempts to reclassify these firearms have nothing to do with stopping criminal violence. They're about control, registration, and incrementally dismantling the practical exercise of Second Amendment rights.

Congress has the power to fix this permanently by reforming or repealing the NFA's short-barreled rifle provisions. Lawmakers who claim to support the Second Amendment need to stop hiding behind procedural excuses and act.

Contact your representatives today. Demand they co-sponsor NFA reform legislation and put ATF's bureaucratic overreach on a short leash — before the next rule drops and millions of gun owners are blindsided again.