Pay $30 Today to Possibly Avoid a Felony
And support your second-amendment rights.
We’ve been discussing guns quite a bit recently here at Unprepared, and here’s an important issue to know about: if you own an AR-15 pistol with a stabilizing brace, you’re probably about to be a felon.
That’s due to a rule change by our friends at the ATF, who have a limited ability to arbitrarily decide which guns are legal and which are not.
Short-barreled rifles (under 16 inches) are illegal without a special federal tax stamp, but for years, the ATF has ruled that AR-15 pistols with “stabilizing braces” are not considered short-barreled rifles.
That’s changed recently under the Biden administration, and as of May 31, 2023, such AR-15 pistols are to be considered short-barreled rifles, with the following options for compliance:
Registering the gun with the federal government. The usual $200 fee has been temporarily waived.
Remove the short barrel and attach a longer one.
Destroy the stabilizing brace.
Turn the gun into the feds.
Destroy the gun.
Many gun owners aware of the rule change aren’t keen on any of these options and have decided to disobey. In reality, most owners of these guns probably have no idea about this arbitrary rule change. In fact, I bet the Biden administration is counting on that.
However, there is now another option. Thanks to the work of the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), the Fifth Circuit applied a temporary injunction again the rule, but it only applies to FPC members.
The problem is the FPC had an unclear membership policy, and it was equally unclear exactly who this injunction would apply to. Many people donated to the FPC but were never officially declared members.
So now they’ve fixed that so that anyone who has donated $20 or more to the FPC from June 1, 2022, through May 31, 2023 will be counted as members, with an effective date of June 1, 2022 and end date of December 31, 2023. In short, you should be included in the injunction.
Will this actually work? I have no idea. The ATF is notoriously shady and who knows how things will play out in court. I will say this: I’ve watched FPC for years and they’re a quality group advocating for gun rights, as opposed to the clown show that is the NRA.
So if you are a gun owner, or want to be one, I encourage you to become a member today to support your second-amendment rights.
And, as always, to show I put my money where my mouth is:
Stay tuned to Unprepared for more firearm posts. In the meantime, check out:
And don’t forget Buy Nothing June!