Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the Gun Owners of America are seeking to block the Biden administration's attempt to restrict gun rights on pistol braces.
AG Paxton's lawsuit seeks an injunction against the Biden's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) new "unlawful" restrictions on pistol owners who use braces to prevent injury, secure pistols safely, and assist gun owners with disabilities.
Paxton and the guns rights group consider the new restrictions unconstitutional and a violation of Second Amendment rights.
"I filed this lawsuit to ensure that pistol brace owners are protected from the anti-gun Left and the radical activists staffing Biden's ATF," Paxton wrote in a statement. "As the case moves through our legal system, I am hopeful that the court will protect the constitutional rights of Americans by issuing a preliminary injunction against this rule. The law is on our side. We will prevail in this battle against the Biden administration's war on the Second Amendment."
The ATF rule being challenged in court attempts to define a pistol with a stabilizing braces as a "short-barreled rifle," forcing more law-abiding gun owners to register their pistol, according to the lawsuit.
"The rule itself is unconstitutional and illegal, as was the method by which the ATF instituted the new rule," according to the Paxton news release. "Paxton's lawsuit challenges these violations, and, if granted, the motion for preliminary injunction would stop the rule from taking effect until the case is decided on its merits."
Paxton warns the Biden administration's ATF is going to come down hard on pistol owners using a brace.
"Enjoining this unconstitutional policy is imperative because the Biden Administration intends to apply draconian punishments to any violation of the new rule," according to the release. "Americans who have lawfully used stabilizing braces for years could face up to ten years in prison if they do not rapidly comply with the arbitrary new legal designation."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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