U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines helped introduce two bills to fight back against the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) recently announced unconstitutional federal registry for firearms with stabilizing braces.
“The ATF has proven time and time again that they are hellbent on carrying out President Biden and Senate Democrats’ unconstitutional gun grabbing agenda. I will not standby as Washington bureaucrats seek to strip Montanans of their constitutional rights, and this new pistol brace rule is just the next step in their plan to undermine law abiding Montanans’ right to keep and bear arms,” Daines said.
The Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Today (SHORT) Act will remove the unconstitutional taxation, registration, and regulation of firearms such as Short Barreled Rifles (SBR), Short Barreled Shotguns (SBS), and Any Other Weapons (AOW).
Senator Daines helped introduce this legislation with Senators Roger Marshall (Kansas), John Barrasso (Wyo.), John Boozman (Ark.), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Ted Cruz (Texas), Cindy Hyde-Smith (Miss.), Mike Lee (Utah), Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.), Markwayne Mullin (Okla.), Rand Paul (Ky.), Mike Risch (Idaho), Mike Rounds (S.D.), Rick Scott (Fla.), and John Thune (S.D.).
Additionally, Senator Daines is a cosponsor of a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution introduced to prevent the ATF’s new rule from taking effect.
U.S. Congressman Andrew Clyde (GA-09) has introduced companion legislation to both the CRA and the SHORT Act in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Senator Daines’ legislation is needed to push back against the Biden Administration’s attacks on millions of gun owners with his attempted ban on certain pistols through the ATF’s rule change.
Using the National Firearms Act (NFA), the Biden Administration is pretending people who own pistols with stabilizing braces in fact possess illegal short barreled rifles. ATF is using this excuse to facilitate a ban, forcing gun owners to violate their rule or participate in an unconstitutional “Amnesty Registration of Pistol Brace weapons,” in order to keep their own firearms.
The only way to protect gun owners from the Biden Administration and ensure the ATF does not enact this rule (or any future version of it) is by deregulating NFA firearms through the elimination of unconstitutional and unnecessary restrictions, taxation, and registration placed on NFA firearms in 1934.
Background:
Short-Barreled Rifle Deregulation:
- An SBR is a rifle that has a barrel length less than 16 inches or an overall length less than 26 inches.
- The ATF reports that there are over 532,000 registered SBRs as of May 2021.
- SBRs include many rifles but the most popular SBRs are variants of the AR-15.
- Under ATF Proposed Rule 2021R-08, any rifle with a stabilizing brace would de facto be designated an SBR and thus be subject to all NFA Regulations. This means the Biden Administration may be registering, taxing, and regulating as many as 40 million lawfully purchased pistols without the passage of a new law.
Short-Barreled Shotgun Deregulation:
- An SBS is a shotgun that has a barrel length less than 18 inches or an overall length less than 26 inches.
- The ATF reports that there are over 162,000 registered SBSs as of May 2021.
- Additionally, Senator Daines’ legislation would remove the unconstitutional “sporting use” requirement for shotguns, which allows ATF bureaucrats to arbitrarily regulate certain shotguns like explosives.
Any Other Weapon Deregulation:
- An AOW is an ambiguous catch-all term for firearms that do not fit neatly into the provided definitions. Without removing this definition, the ATF could abuse this statue to justify another ban on pistols. This is a crucial provision to end the attack on American’s Second Amendment rights.
- The ATF reports that there are over 67,000 registered AOWs as of May 2021.
Record Destruction:
- Additionally, the legislation would require the ATF destroy all records relating to the registration, transfer, or manufacture of these NFA firearms, preventing the ATF from further harassing owners or confiscating these firearms.
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Contact: Matt Lloyd, Rachel Dumke, Blake Kernen