Federal Judge Blocks Enforcement of ATF Rule Targeting Pistol Braces

A federal judge in Florida granted a request for a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of a new federal gun law related to stabilizing braces and whether they convert firearms into short-barrel rifles. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) cannot enforce the rule against individuals who live “in the state of Florida,” U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven wrote in an order this week. In part, the judge wrote that the ATF and other defendants, including Director Steven Dettelbach, were not able to meet the standard of showing that the ATF rule falls under “the plain text of the Second Amendment” of the U.S. Constitution after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last year that struck down a 100-year-old gun regulation in New York state. That ruling, the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, found that carrying a pistol in public was a constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment....