A federal judge in Texas has overturned a rule issued by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that targeted pistol attachments known as “stabilizing braces” or “pistol braces” and treated pistols fitted with such devices as short-barreled rifles, subjecting them to various restrictions.
In a 12-page decision issued on June 13, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor ruled that the ATF’s rule that treated roughly 99 percent of pistols fitted with the braces as short-barreled rifles violated the Administrative Procedures Act’s procedural requirements because it was not a “logical outgrowth” of the proposed version of the rule.
