Ken Paxton, GOA File Motion for Preliminary Injunction Against ATF Pistol Brace Rule

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Gun Owners of America (GOA) are seeking a preliminary injunction against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF’s) pistol brace rule.

On February 9, 2023, Paxton and GOA filed their initial suit, at which time Paxon told Breitbart News, “[The pistol brace rule] is yet another attempt by the Biden Administration to create a workaround to the U.S. Constitution and expand gun registration in America. There is absolutely no legal basis for ATF’s haphazard decision to try to change the long-standing classification for stabilizing braces, force registration on Americans, and then throw them in jail for ten years if they don’t quickly comply. This rule is dangerous and unconstitutional, and I’m hopeful that this lawsuit will ensure that it is never allowed to take effect.”

Paxton and GOA contend that “the Final Rule does not represent reasoned (much less lawful) decision making. Rather, it is the handicraft of unelected bureaucrats seeking to exercise power beyond lawful limits without any oversight or accountability.”

They ask the court to intervene, noting that “intervention is therefore necessary, not only to restore order from the agency’s chaos, but also to assure this nation’s gun owners, and the American people, that they can have respect for – rather than contempt of – the rule of law.”

GOA Senior VP Erich Pratt talked to Breitbart News about the motion for a preliminary injunction, saying, “Millions of Americans are facing a shrinking deadline to register or destroy their lawfully owned brace firearms under this draconian rule from the ATF, and to that end we hope the Judge will hear their pleas and put a halt to this measure before millions of these law-abiding people unexpectedly become potential felons overnight.”

The case is Texas v. ATF, No. 6:23-cv-13 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Victoria Division.