In a major win for Second Amendment rights, the Biden administration's pistol brace ban has been struck down nationwide. A previous ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had given the plaintiffs relief but left everyone still risking a felony by holding onto their pistol braces. 

U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmarky of Texas delivered the nationwide injunction, a decision that saves millions from having to destroy their pistol braces or guns altogether.

Millions of law-abiding gun owners who were turned into criminals overnight under the Biden administration’s new pistol brace ban have temporary relief after a federal judge in Texas issued a nationwide injunction preventing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives from enforcing it.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled on Wednesday that the unelected bureaucrats’ attempts to legislate by regulation instead of enforcing the gun laws already on the books were unlawful and, in the case of pistol braces, must cease immediately.

The ATF’s rule, enacted earlier this year, sought to jail and fine any of the estimated 40 million U.S. pistol brace owners who refused to reclassify their weapons as short barrel rifles, which require registration with the government and a $200 tax stamp, or destroy the pistol brace. Gun owners in the 21 states with SBR bans were forced to choose between relinquishing their weapons or destroying their pistol brace-equipped firearms to avoid penalty and punishment.

At issue is whether the ATF can unilaterally re-write gun laws without input from Congress just because a president tells them to. Pistol braces serve a practical purpose for disabled individuals, but they've also been a legal way for law-abiding gun owners to have guns with shorter barrels without having to register their weapons as SBRs. Without the pistol brace or SBR registration, which is illegal, a 16-inch barrel length is required under the National Firearms Act.

The ban was put in place after a mass shooting in which a gun with a pistol brace was used. Practically, the ban accomplished nothing and was simply an emotional play by the Biden administration to say they "did something." There is no mass shooter who will be deterred because they can't get a pistol-braced weapon, and it would be very simple to create one illegally anyway given it's simply a piece of plastic. Guns are deadly no matter what form factor they come in, and banning weapons based on whether they were used in high-profile shootings or not while all other statistics are ignored is moronic and ineffective. 

This is a major win for the Second Amendment because it stops the ATF cold in its tracks. There is no doubt the bureaucracy would have continued to encroach further and further on gun rights had it gotten away with this gambit. Making pistol braces illegal has done and would do nothing to stop gun violence. It was simply a power play by vindictive politicians who refuse to strike at the core of the issue, which remains mental health. As it stands, almost all shootings still occur with handguns. The focus on AR-15 setups is simply not backed by any real data.