Two from Wisconsin sue ATF over new stabilizing brace rule

(The Center Square) – A pair of former Marines from Wisconsin are among those in the first lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and Explosives' new rule on stabilizing braces.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed the suit immediately after the ATF unveiled the new rule Tuesday.

Gabriel Tauscher from Oconomowoc and Shawn Kroll from Hartland both own pistols with stabilizer braces, and both say the ATF is going too far in ordering a ban.

“ATF is forcing millions of Americans to decide among three unthinkable choices: (1) destroy, dismantle, or hand over the property they purchased with ATF’s prior and affirmative approval, (2) list their pistol – and by extension their own name and address – on a national gun registry, or (3) commit a felony,” WILL’s lawsuit reads.

Stabilizing braces are small attachments on the back of some pistols that attach to a shooter’s forearm. The idea is to balance the gun, making it more accurate and safer. The ATF says a stabilizing brace turns these pistols into short-barreled rifles, which must be registered with the ATF.

“ATF’s actions are unlawful. The new rule unlawfully usurps Congressional authority by significantly expanding the definition of 'rifle' under federal law and, with it, imposes potential criminal liability on millions of Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights. Such a dramatic seizure of legislative authority violates not only the Administrative Procedures Act, but the separation of powers,” the lawsuit argues.

Tauscher says he keeps his pistol with a stabilizing brace after being ambushed in Minneapolis, and shot 15 times back in 2021. Kroll says he uses the stabilizing brace on his weapon to make it safer to use. Both men were deployed as Marines.

The ATF’s new rule changes the agency’s position on stabilizing braces.

As recently as 2017 the ATF ruled that stabilizing braces do not make a pistol into a short-barreled rifle.

“With respect to stabilizing braces, ATF has concluded that attaching the brace to a handgun as a forearm brace does not ‘make’ a short-barreled rifle because … it is not intended to be and cannot comfortably be fired from the shoulder,” the ATF said six years ago.

WILL’s lawsuit also points out that the ATF made similar rulings going all the way back to 2012.

WILL’s lawsuit asks the federal court to block the ATF from enforcing the new rule, and allow those who are suing to keep their guns as is.