The U.S. Supreme Court has characterized handguns as the “quintessential” Second Amendment arm. Pistol braces increase accuracy and ease of operation for large-format handguns, especially for users suffering from physical disabilities. Yet not only have braced pistols been targeted by authorities in disproportion to their exceedingly rare use in violent crime, but it’s also currently impossible to determine their legal status. NRA-ILA is working to fix that.
The issue dates back to 2012, when ATF examined a braced AR-type pistol and determined it was not a “short-barreled rifle” (SBR) for purposes of the National Firearms Act (NFA). Pistol braces then exploded in popularity.
It was only after millions of pistol braces had been sold during the ensuing decade that the Biden-Harris administration issued its infamous rule, Factoring Criteria for Firearms With Attached “Stabilizing Braces,” in Jan. 2023. The rule purported to establish “objective design features and factors” that determine when a “weapon is designed, made, and intended to be fired from the shoulder” and therefore qualifies as an SBR under the NFA. Of course, none of the rule’s features or methodology appear in the NFA itself.
ATF admitted the rule would capture 99% of the braced pistols in circulation and would reverse prior determinations under which these firearms were determined not to be SBRs. It also acknowledged that millions of gun owners would be affected (up to 40 million braces were in circulation, according to a 2021 Congressional Research Service analysis).
The rule’s options for those who owned braced pistols in good faith’s reliance on prior interpretations of the law included dismantling or destroying the firearm, applying to ATF to register them as SBRs, disposing of the stabilizing brace or “altering” it to prevent its use, or surrendering the firearm (without compensation) to ATF.
NRA and others promptly sued to block the rule, and its enforcement was enjoined against NRA members and other plaintiff groups. Eventually, the rule was vacated in its entirety, with a federal judge finding in June 2024 that it was (among other flaws) “arbitrary and capricious,” including by being so “vague that it provides no meaningful clarity about what constitutes an impermissible stabilizing brace[.]”
Unfortunately, these favorable rulings did not resolve the problems. The Biden-Harris Department of Justice (DOJ) continued its jihad against braced pistols, vowing to appeal the decisions against its rule.
It also insisted, in a prosecution for possession of an unregistered braced pistol, that the unenforceability of the rule did not mean ATF could not still enforce the NFA itself, including against braced pistols. And “because the rule reflects ATF’s best understanding of the statute, those determinations [about which braced pistols qualify as SBRs] will naturally tend to look substantially like the determinations that would follow from applying the clear framework outline in the rule,” the Biden DOJ wrote in brief dated July 25, 2024.
But ATF went even further in a Dec. 2024 email that responded to a request for clarification on the legal status of a particular combination of pistol and brace. Rather than confine its answer to that combination, ATF broadly claimed, “Federal law requires a pistol with an attached stabilizing brace or stock be registered as a short-barreled rifle (SBR).”
President Trump’s second inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, presaged a different tone on the issue.
On April 7, 2025, ATF issued a press release stating that it and DOJ were launching a “review” of the Biden-era pistol brace rule in the interest of “restoring fairness and clarity in firearms regulation” and ensuring “our policies are balanced, constitutional and protective of Americans’ Second Amendment rights.”
Nine days later, DOJ moved to dismiss the above-mentioned NFA prosecution “in the interest of justice.”
President Trump, on July 4, 2025, then signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” into law, which eliminated the NFA’s $200 excise tax on SBRs and certain other categories of NFA firearms.
DOJ followed this up, on July 17, 2025, by dropping its appeal of the case which vacated the braced-pistol rule.
All seemed well until March 16, 2026, when DOJ filed a brief in one of the remaining cases challenging the braced-pistol rule’s legality, once again asserting its authority to enforce the NFA against braced pistols. It added, “But that should come as no surprise, as that is consistent with how [ATF] have always explained how things work if a court vacated the Rule or enjoined its enforcement.”
Besides continually reporting on these issues, NRA has sued to have the SBR provisions of the NFA declared unconstitutional, both under the Second Amendment and because the elimination of the NFA’s tax on SBRs means Congress’ regulation of them under the taxing power can no longer stand. NRA is also supporting legislation to remove SBRs from the NFA, as well as efforts by U.S. Senators to urge the ATF to publicly reassert its original determination on the legality of braced pistols.
As this article was going to press, President Trump had announced upcoming changes to senior leadership at DOJ, although details are still forthcoming.
We have no reason to believe the Trump administration has any intention of a crackdown on owners of unregistered braced pistols. Yet NRA will always fight against the targeting of common and popular firearms.
