The Senate as early as next week is expected to vote to kill President Joe Biden’s regulation on AR-15s fitted with pistol braces, a rule that overnight turned up to 29 million owners into felons.
Key sources following the issue said three Democratic senators are leaning toward joining a united GOP to repeal the rule that went into effect this month.
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But even with the support of pro-gun Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (WV), John Tester (MT) and Angus King (ME), it won’t be enough to override a threatened Biden veto. The House passed the repeal in mid-June by a close 219-210 margin.
Still, rejection via the congressional review act process would be a major blow to Biden’s liberal anti-gun agenda, a sharp rebuke to overzealous regulators at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and a signal to federal judges that there is support for rulings against the Biden gun control drive.
Starting this weekend, the American Firearms Association is running this ad in West Virginia, mobilizing 2A supporters to call Joe Manchin and insist he publicly support and vote for @Rep_Clyde‘s pistol brace ban repeal in the Senate. pic.twitter.com/d60vgkMkwK
— American Firearms Association (@2A_Freedom) June 16, 2023
Several groups have sued the ATF and won temporary injunctions against the rule. And even more are pressuring senators, notably Manchin and Tester, in ads and online campaigns.
The American Firearms Association, for example, told Secrets they are targeting Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ). Both are up for reelection next year and represent pro-gun states.
Of course Joe Biden intends to veto my resolution to overturn the ATF’s unconstitutional pistol brace rule.
What’s really important is the strong message Congress sends to the court system by passing my bill in both chambers with bipartisan support. https://t.co/1dCQJuxCP8
— Rep. Andrew Clyde (@Rep_Clyde) June 16, 2023
Two sources said driving GOP unity and some Democratic support is anger at Biden’s reliance on regulations to implement policy that Congress should have a vote on. And in Manchin’s case, one said, it is the Biden White House’s endless moves to embarrass him.
Sens. John Kennedy (R-LA) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) are the sponsors of the Congressional Review Act resolution, the sister to the House version sponsored by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA).
The issue is both complicated and simple.
The brace was developed as a feature on shorter-barreled AR-15s to help disabled people stabilize the gun. It was targeted at veterans, but the package soon became enormously popular with target shooters and hunters who often used the adjustable brace as a rifle stock.
The ATF repeatedly said the gun was legal, even with the shorter barrels. Typically, short-barreled rifles are regulated under the Al Capone-era National Firearms Act, requiring a $200 stamp and registration.
When Biden became president, his ATF changed its mind and decided to regulate the firearm under the National Firearms Act. It set a June 1 deadline for registration of the millions of guns but didn’t require the $200 fee. ATF said those who don’t register their guns could destroy them or remove the brace. Just 250,000 decided to register their guns, potentially creating millions of felons overnight.
Second Amendment advocates have quietly argued that the courts will eventually throw the ATF rule out, as was done with the Trump administration’s ban on so-called bump stocks.
Biden has included the firearm in his call for an assault-style weapons ban. Only two of the pistol brace-style weapons have been used in mass shootings.
Groups sued, claiming that only Congress can outlaw the device and that Biden’s administrative state was out of control, a situation similar to his administration’s try at banning gas stoves.
“That’s what this is all about. It’s the fact that the government thinks it can regulate whatever it wants, and if they can do it with a piece of plastic on a firearm, what prevents them from doing it to your porch on your house, your car, or anything? Where does it end?” a Senate adviser said.
