The Biden administration’s anti-gunners suffered a surprising setback on Friday when a federal judge put new gun regulations on hold until litigation against the change is resolved.
U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay, a Clinton appointee, wrote: “The court determines that the NRA’s motion should be granted [in order to] maintain the status quo pending the resolution of this litigation.”
The ruling applied to the gun rights group’s millions of members, enjoining the regulation from being enforced on them.
NRA WIN: Federal district court grants preliminary injunction preventing the ATF from enforcing its “pistol brace rule” against NRA Members!https://t.co/WtpC2LQQix
— NRA (@NRA) April 1, 2024
The legal battle began shortly after the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) unilaterally redefined firearms in Jan. 2023. The addition of a simple pistol brace to a handgun suddenly transformed it into a heavily-regulated short-barreled rifle
This designation meant the handguns would fall under the National Firearms Act of 1934, meant to regulate machine guns. It also countered decades of ATF policy under which these pistol braces did not alter the classification of a weapon.
This action, of course, was another volley in the Biden White House’s war on Second Amendment rights. It blatantly ignored the Constitution, the Supreme Court and hundreds of thousands of gun owners who utilized the “public comment” period to decry the change.
The Senate Republican Caucus also denounced the move, calling it “the largest Executive branch-imposed gun registration and confiscation scheme in American history.”
As for the NRA, which brought the lawsuit shortly after the ATF announced the controversial change, it is a clear victory. Judge Lindsay first ruled that the organization had “associational standing” to represent its members in the litigation.
Then he ruled that the Biden agency did not enact the proper comment period before issuing the pistol brace rule. This, he said, made major revisions to existing policy while ignoring the outpouring of sentiment against the change.
NRA President Charles Cotton celebrated the win for the venerable gun rights group.
Cotton declared, “This is a major victory for the NRA, its members, and all who believe in Second Amendment freedom. From day one, we vowed to fight back against President Biden and his rogue regulators — and to defeat this unlawful measure.”
