ATF Plays Their Hand: Hang Onto Your Braces & Braced Firearms
Adam Scepaniak 12.02.20
We have officially made it through Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, another election, and if you are somewhat optimistic we are all hoping that COVID-19 will come to a close just like the year 2020 will very soon. With all of us having survived so much it appears that there is one last battle to fight and it is just beginning. The ATF recently has taken a contentious stance where they are questioning the validity – or better, the legality – of numerous braces and braced firearms in the shooting industry. The two companies that are at the center of these attacks are SB Tactical (the premier manufacturer of all braces) and Q (the superbly innovative yet small firearm/silencer company).
The ATF recently has been trying to state that SB Tactical had been given notice 2 years ago that multiple products in their portfolio did not meet the requirements to be a brace; thus, SB Tactical has been misrepresenting their products and misleading the general public. While this is the stated, public opinion of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) it is flatly that – an opinion. Their determination is anything close to logical and is merely rooted in malice.
Essentially, the ATF hates braces – any and all forms of them. They got outsmarted by manufacturers and their ingenuity to circumvent the ATF’s nonsensical laws. With that being said, the ATF is attacking any potential gray area (products in SB Tactical’s portfolio of goods baselessly deemed misleading) or any small fish (Q and their Honey Badger) to hang someone out to dry and make an example of them.
While firearm rights are extremely important and will be covered as needed on AllOutdoor, we try to maintain a stance similar to TheFirearmBlog where we want to cover the great outdoors and firearms; not politics. With all of that being said, if Joe Biden does become the President of the United States in January, he has openly expressed approval and backing for the ATF’s current efforts against braces. Braces and braced firearms could become illegal like bump stocks have. A relic of the past and another small freedom stripped away from gun owners.
From a gun owner’s standpoint, I would not recommend that any gun owners squirrel away braces and/or braced firearms in their collection (who might be inclined to sell them) to potentially make a larger pay day sometime down the road. When bump stocks got banned a notable company (online retailer RW Arms) was forced to forfeit 60,000 bump stocks without pay to the ATF. They lost their butts by having so much inventory that they could not sell fast enough before the illicit product became illegal.
In my humble opinion, anyone with braces and/or braced firearms who might be thinking of selling what they own should sell them as normal. You might find on Gunbroker or similar websites that many products are selling above MSRP prices as things heat up in this still-undecided legal battle between SB Tactical, Q LLC, and multiple other prominent firearm manufacturers selling braced firearms.
It is important to note that this ordeal is far from concluded… this is the ATF we are all dealing with. They fabricate their own rules as they unfortunately see fit, and they potentially have an incoming President willing to back their ungrounded thoughts and ideas. Just seeing the ATF’s recent attempts at banning M855… saying you can’t shoulder a brace… then one day you can… banning bump stocks… now attacking braces again… you don’t have to look back more than 10 years to see a list of their unjustified examples of regulation. The best we can do in the interim is contact our legislators and work for the best outcome possible for gun owners. All in all, what do you think? Will we see braces and braced firearms banned in the next year? Or will gun owners win the day? Let us know all of your thoughts in the Comments below! We always appreciate your feedback.
