A resolution to rollback President Biden’s regulation requiring firearms with pistol brace attachments to be registered as rifles failed to pass the Senate on Thursday.
Democrats used their thin majority to sink the measure, 49-50. Sen. Krysten Sinema of Arizona, an independent, voted with Democrats to support the new gun regulation.
It was highly unlikely the measure would become law. The White House said President Biden would veto the bill after the House version of it passed in mid-June along party lines, 219-210.
Two House Democrats voted for the legislation while two House Republicans voted against it. Senate Republicans would have needed ten more Democrats to override his veto, an unlikely scenario.
“Even though Congressional Republicans should take additional action to keep these and other dangerous weapons off our streets, they are instead pushing a resolution to reverse this rule and the progress we have made to enforce existing statutory requirements on these dangerous weapons,” the White House said in a statement. “If H.J. Res. 44 were presented to the President, he would veto it.”
Although the bill was destined to fail, Republicans see the legislative battle as a messaging win for their Republican base going into the 2024 election cycle.
Democrats say the pistol brace transforms a handgun into a short-barrel-rifle, which requires a federal tax stamp, and makes the gun more dangerous.
“They are more transportable and concealable than long rifles, they have longer range, greater accuracy, and more power and more firepower, than pistols,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, Connecticut Democrat. “The perfect recipe for criminals. That’s in part why they are more highly regulated than your standard handgun, or your standard hunting rifle.”
Republicans, however, said the device does not make handguns any more dangerous.
“The pistol brace doesn’t change the caliber of the pistol that makes it more powerful. The pistol brace doesn’t change the number of rounds that the pistol can hold,” said Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana. “The pistol brace doesn’t make the pistol an automatic pistol….Except for stabilizing the pistol. It doesn’t change the pistol in any way.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ new regulations say that guns with attached pistol braces that allow them to be shouldered when firing must be registered as rifles under the National Firearms Act.
The NFA is the federal law that oversees private firearm ownership of long guns. The new rule is a change from the agency’s previous position that it was unnecessary to register the orthotic braces with the NFA.
Stabilizing braces can be fitted to particular pistols but are usually used on the AR-15 platform and other guns that the ATF defines as handguns.
The attachment was initially designed as an orthotic device to assist a person with a physical disability to operate a firearm.
Although it was scheduled to go into effect in June, the regulation was temporarily paused in May by the Fifth Circuit after a coalition of pro-gun lobbying groups filed suit against it.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.