Attorney General Cameron Joins 24-States in Lawsuit Opposing Biden Administration’s Rewrite of Federal Firearm Regulations

To declare the rule unlawful

FRANKFORT, Ky. (February 20, 2023) – Attorney General Daniel Cameron joined a coalition of 24 states in filing a lawsuit to oppose the Biden Administration’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) rewrite of federal firearm regulations. The rule would require Americans to register pistols equipped with stabilizing braces, also known as pistol braces, with the DOJ or face criminal penalties. The attorneys general argue the rule exceeds the authority granted to the ATF.

“For more than a decade, ATF has assured the public that popular firearm accessories like pistol stabilizing braces would not make pistols subject to additional federal regulation, but having failed to pass gun-control legislation, the Biden administration is now attempting to do just that,” said Attorney General Cameron. “We joined this lawsuit to protect the Second Amendment rights of Kentuckians and stop the President from pushing gun-control policies through an agency that lacks Congressional authority to implement such changes.”

Stabilizing braces were originally designed to aid those with disabilities in using a pistol, and for more than a decade, these braces have been sold as unregulated firearm attachments.

Under ATF’s new rule, owners of this popular firearm accessory would be required to submit an application, fingerprints, and a passport photo to ATF and pay a $200 tax.

In their lawsuit, the attorneys general argue that ATF does not have the statutory authority to issue the new rule as Congress did not intend pistols to be subject to the National Firearms Act. The coalition writes, “Congress enacted the NFA to regulate ‘sawed-off guns’ and other dangerous weapons favored by criminal ‘gangster[s]’ for concealability and indiscriminate accuracy, and specifically left ‘without any restriction’ ‘pistols and revolvers and sporting arms.’ The Rule, by contrast, regulates pistols and other firearms based on accessories designed as orthotics that make them less concealable, more accurate, and less dangerous, thereby undermining public safety.”

The coalition also explains that if implemented, millions of law-abiding citizens would be forced “to choose between the loss of their lawful (and lawfully acquired) firearms, the loss of their privacy, and the risk of criminal penalties.” This rule would also result in the “destruction or forfeiture of over 750,000 firearms and cost the private sector somewhere between two and five billion dollars.”

The attorneys general have asked the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota Western Division to declare the rule unlawful.

Attorney General Cameron was joined by attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming, as well as the advocacy group Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition Inc., brace manufacturer SB Tactical, firearms importer and manufacturer B&T USA and Richard Cicero, a retired police firearms instructor and wounded veteran who uses stabilizing braces, in filing the lawsuit.

To read a copy of the complaint, click here