The Gun Owners of America (GOA) filed a federal lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) over its controversial pistol brace rule.
The lawsuit filed on Feb. 9 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas named the GOA, the Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as plaintiffs. It sought to challenge the ATF’s pistol brace ban, which took effect on Jan. 31.
Under the new rule, Americans will have to register or destroy approximately 40 million lawfully owned firearms equipped with pistol stabilizers or braces within 120 days. Those refusing to comply will face possible felony charges.
“Our complaint makes clear that the agency’s rule violates the Second Amendment ‘text, history and tradition’ standard set forth by the Supreme Court in its recent [New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen] case,” the GOA said. “We also show how the gun ban violates the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution, not to mention that it’s an invalid exercise of the federal government’s taxing power.” (Related: GOA files suit against the ATF’s pistol brace rule.)
Paxton also denounced the ATF for its capricious rule, saying: “There is absolutely no legal basis for ATF’s haphazard decision to try to change the long-standing classification for stabilizing braces, force registration on Americans, and then throw them in jail for ten years if they don’t quickly comply.”
According to the lawsuit, the federal law enforcement agency has been inconsistent on the issue of pistol braces for almost ten years now. Originally, the ATF stated that such accessories would not convert pistols into short-barreled rifles (SBRs) – a sentiment it stood by in 2014.
“Under the Biden administration, ATF has now revoked or radically altered all of its previous classification letters. Gun owners are now suffering under the ‘new normal’ – where [President] Joe Biden is dead set on banning as many firearms as he can.”
GOA also fighting threats to 2A in other states
The GOA is also fighting threats to the Second Amendment at the state level.
On Feb. 9, the gun rights group scored a legal victory after the Oregon Supreme Court sided with the GOA. The Beaver State’s high court denied the state government’s request to overturn a preliminary injunction GOA previously obtained.
The injunction came in response to GOA’s challenge against Oregon’s gun control measure that bans magazines over 10 rounds and mandates a permit to purchase any firearm. The mandate also requires would-be buyers to finish a yet-to-exist training course, pay an application fee, have their fingerprints collected, and undergo a duplicative background check before the said permit to purchase is issued.
The gun rights group also filed a lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction to challenge Illinois’ ban on commonly-owned firearms arbitrarily classified as “assault weapons.”
The said ban, under the Protect Illinois Communities Act, was signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Jan. 10. It officially prohibited the sale, possession, and distribution of assault weapons such as AR-15s. Those owning firearms restricted under the law must now register with the Illinois State Police.
According to Pritzker, the Highland Park shooting that happened on July 4, 2022, that killed seven and wounded dozens was on his mind while signing the bill. But this did not sit well with the GOA and GOF, which joined a federal lawsuit against the mandate on Jan. 24.
“Illinois is setting themselves up to just be the latest state that quickly gets slapped sternly on the wrist for passing unconstitutional gun control,” remarked GOA Executive Director and GOF board member Sam Paredes.
GOA Senior Vice President Erich Pratt remarked that “instead of threatening law enforcement for upholding their oaths to the Constitution,” Pritzker “should be exponentially increasing his efforts to rein in violent crime in Chicago, most of which is committed with illegally owned handguns.”
Watch Glenn Beck as he breaks this all down.