Federal court deals blow to ATF pistol brace rule ahead of gun accessory registration deadline

Federal appeals court issues temporary injunction blocking ATF from enforcing a rule on pistol stabilizing braces days before owners were required to register with the bureau.

Gun rights groups have argued in court that the stabilizing brace rule violates the Constitution by requiring millions of gun owners to register their weapons. The Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), one of the plaintiffs in the case, has called the rule "onerous and unconstitutional." FPC brought the case to the Fifth Circuit after appealing a lower-court order from a Texas judge who declined to block enforcement of the rule while the challenge proceeds through court.  Chris Pandolfo is a writer for Fox News Digital. Send tips to chris.pandolfo@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.

The stabilizing brace rule was introduced as part of the comprehensive gun crime strategy Biden announced in April 2021 in response to the massacre at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, where a gunman used a firearm with a stabilizing brace to kill 10 people. In 2019, another mass murderer used a stabilizing brace in a shooting in Dayton, Ohio, that killed nine people.