Posted on 10/07/2020 2:05:33 PM PDT by PerConPat
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) recategorized a popular Q, LLC-manufactured AR-15 pistol with stabilizer brace as a Short Barreled Rifle (SBR), which places the gun under the purview of the National Firearms Act (1934).
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
I've been reading about this on my gun forums. As far as I can understand, the issue isn't with a "brace." This is concerning the Q "Honey Badger Pistol." The advertising literature says "two position stock" instead of "brace."
Because it can be extended to 13 inches is the disqualifying criterion. It's no longer a brace and is a stock, hence, illegal.
Oh. I actually missed that little tidbit.
If they’d called it a brace, I suspect they would have been fine. They called it a stock instead and may have ruined it for everyone else, not just them. Idiots.
Ok, First reply that gives insight into what is going on. All of the pistol braces I have seen are fixed. And yes, if the one in question extends to what is basically a youth stock length of pull, I can see the controversy. Until the law itself is changed, a pistol with a stock that long will be a short barreled rifle, and must be classified as such. The law hasn’t been fudged or changed, someone has pushed it past it’s current limits. A good solution would, of course be to repeal ALL length and silencer restrictions, for a start.
No, of course you are right. But, if the law says you are NFA if you put a stock on a pistol, and manufacturers start putting things on that are closer and closer to a stock, someone is going to get burned playing that game.
“I have a paid-in-full 22LR suppressor that has been sitting in my FFLs safe for 2 years.”
2? Our stamp took 5 months. We got lucky.
I remember reading that the first company to market an AR15 pistol "brace" (SIG??) took a prototype to ATF and got it pre-approved as a legal/non-NFA/non-buttstock accessory. (ATF later had second thoughts & pulled a 180 on that, but the reversal proved to be temporary.) Ditto for the early competing products, like the Shockwave Blade - I believe the manufacturer(s) requested and received ATF pre-approval before marketing the product. They were followed by a bunch of other designs (some of which were probably Chinese knock-offs), and I doubt all of those received ATF pre-approval.
So, I'm guessing the hardware attached to the buffer tube on the Badger pistol was designed as a brace, and probably functions primarily as a brace (rather than a stock, as on an SBR), but if it was NOT pre-approved, then - guess what? - it's legally whatever the ATF says it is, unless & until a court decides differently...
Because the “brace” has become a defacto wink-and-nod way around the SBR restriction.
If Trump is re-elected, need to persuade him to do something about NFA - if only direct BATFE to accelerate processing times and relax restrictions toward “shall not be infringed” (if not get NFA & 922(o) repealed entirely).
Good analysis.
Revoke the NFA!
Maybe a previously legal pistol brace would be the difference? Multiple letters re legality and even a changed stance to approve occasional shouldering.
This is straight up BS
Communism
I Agree...Trump has a lot on his plate and perhaps chose political expediency to clear his side of the Vegas outcry ASAP— in order to avoid another controversy in during the impending impeachment controversy. Hopefully we will see what a second term brings to the issue.
Like all of the NFA.
My last can took 5 mos as well. Used Silencer shop and their kiosk. Easy Peasy.
Now waiting on a SBR that has been in ATF jail for 5 months. Fingers crossed I get it by the end of the month.
An entirely reasonable answer...
I'm going to guess (hope?) it's because the HB brace can be completely collapsed.
Have you seen the company's videos where the two versions are compared? They do themselves (and us) no favors when they use language like "get around the NFA" in the commentary.
A while back when ATF sort of winked at the practice of shouldering a "braced pistol" (as most shooters do), I figured this was inevitable. They might not be able to plug every technical loophole in advance, but they can easily circle back and screw with the innovators. Which is pretty much what is going on here.
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