Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under the Rule Submitted By the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Relating to ``Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached `Stabilizing Braces'

Floor Speech

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Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 495, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 44) providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives relating to ``Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached `Stabilizing Braces' '', and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution.

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Mr. HUNT. Res. 44.

Mr. Speaker, H.J. Res. 44 provides for congressional disapproval for the rule submitted by the Biden ATF relating to factoring criteria for firearms with attached stabilizing braces.

On January 31, 2023, the ATF issued a final rule that effectively bans pistol stabilizing braces nationwide. The ATF's rule redefined a firearm with an attached stabilizing brace as a short-barreled rifle subject to regulation under the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the National Firearms Act of 1934.

Let's be clear about what is happening here today. With one stroke of a pen, unelected bureaucrats in Biden's ATF changed regulatory definitions that will turn millions of law-abiding citizens into felons overnight. That is a fact.

If the owners of the roughly 40 million stabilizing braces in circulation today do not obtain a special registration, surrender, destroy their brace, or turn their brace in to the ATF by May 31, 2023, they could now face criminal penalties up to 10 years in Federal prison, with fines of up to $250,000.

This isn't happening because Congress passed a law or because a judge issued a ruling. This is an example of the executive branch making law. This is a Federal agency usurping the legislative authority that Congress has under the Constitution.

Congressional Democrats couldn't pass a bill that outlawed pistol stabilizing braces, so the Biden administration has utilized executive fiat to achieve the desired outcome.

To make matters worse, the rule directly contradicts a prior 2012 determination made by the Obama ATF. President Obama's ATF said that a firearm equipped with a stabilizing brace would not be subject to the National Firearms Act controls. The ATF says one thing for a decade and then does another which will then turn millions of law-abiding citizens into felons literally overnight.

Now, American citizens who own these pistol stabilizing braces and relied on the statements made by the ATF are in violation of Federal law and are subject to serious criminal penalties.

The Second Amendment is imbued in the Bill of Rights for a reason. It preserves the First Amendment and all other unalienable rights afforded to the American people. We don't need to reimagine the Second Amendment. We don't need to curtail it. We most certainly won't be repealing it with a 28th amendment.

This ATF rule is an affront against the rights of the American citizen and an assault on the Second Amendment, and it must be defeated.

This resolution will nullify the ATF rule and further protect one of our most basic rights and reclaim Congress' lawmaking authority given to us by our Constitution.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a cost estimate for H.J. Res. 44 prepared by the Congressional Budget Office. H.J. RES. 44, A JOINT RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL UNDER CHAPTER 8 OF TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE, OF THE RULE SUBMITTED BY

THE BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS, AND EXPLOSIVES RELATING TO ``FACTORING CRITERIA FOR FIREARMS WITH ATTACHED `STABILIZING BRACES' '', AS REPORTED BY THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY ON MAY 17, 2023 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ By fiscal year, millions of dollars-- -------------------------------- 2023 2023-2028 2023-2033 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Direct Spending (Outlays).............. 0 0 0 Revenues............................... -14 -243 -506 Increase or Decrease (-) in the Deficit 14 243 506 Spending Subject to Appropriation * * ** (Outlays)............................. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ * = between zero and $500,000. ** = not estimated.

Increases net direct spending in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2034? No. Statutory pay-as-you-go procedures apply? Yes.

Increases on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2034? <$5 billion.

Mandate Effects:

Contains intergovernmental mandate? No.

Contains private-sector mandate? No.

H.J. Res. 44 would disapprove the final rule ``Factoring Criteria for Firearms With Attached `Stabilizing Braces,' '' which was submitted by the Department of Justice and took effect on January 31, 2023, the day it was published in the Federal Register. The resolution would invoke a legislative process established by the Congressional Review Act to repeal the final rule and prohibit the department from issuing the same or a similar rule in the future.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) regulates firearms under the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) and the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA). The NFA requires certain guns, including short-barreled rifles, to be licensed and registered with the ATF and subjects them to various taxes, including a $200 tax on the transfer of those weapons and on the production by anyone other than a qualified manufacturer. The final rule reclassifies certain firearms equipped with a stabilizing brace that allows the user to fire from their shoulder as short-barreled rifles. Thus, the owners and manufacturers of those weapons are subject to taxation under the NFA. Disapproval of the final rule would return those firearms to regulation under the GCA, which does not require registration or transfer and production taxes.

The staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that by disapproving the rule, H.J. Res. 44 would reduce revenues by $506 million over the 2023-2033 period (see Table 1). TABLE 1.--ESTIMATED REVENUE EFFECTS OF H.J. RES. 44 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ By fiscal year, millions of dollars-- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 2023- 2028 2023- 2033 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Decreases in revenues Estimated Revenues........................... -14 -44 -45 -45 -46 -48 -49 -51 -53 -54 -56 -243 -506 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Source: Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation. Components may not sum to totals because of rounding.

The Department of Justice would incur administrative costs to undo the rule and revert to the previous regulations. Based on the costs of similar activities, CBO estimates that it would cost less than $500,000 over the 2023-2028 period to implement H.J. Res. 44; any spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Jeremy Crimm and Margot Berman. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis. Phillip L. Swagel, Director, Congressional Budget Office.

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Mr. HUNT.

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Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I am a Texan, I am a veteran, and I am a gun owner. I am a gun owner of multiple AR-15s, primarily for hunting, and, of course, to protect my three little kids at home, a 4-year-old, a 2- year-old, and a 5-month-old. No one is going to walk into my house and harm my children or my wife--my family. That, I can assure you.

Mr. Speaker, 6 percent of all gun homicides are at the hands of an AR-15 and weapons that are outfitted with a pistol brace--6 percent, and 60 percent are at the hands of a handgun, and the rest are weapons designated not as the two that I just mentioned--6 percent.

This is clearly an attempt to diminish our Second Amendment rights because if you just take away 6 percent of the gun homicides, it leaves you with 94, and I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, that a homicidal maniac who wants to arbitrarily murder people will find another weapon of choice.

I hear the words weapon of war oftentimes, as well. I am an A-64 Delta Apache pilot. I flew 55 combat air missions in Baghdad. That is a weapon of war. A civilian-made AR-15 is nothing that I would ever take to battle.

Now, I also recognize that we do have a mass shooting problem in this country, and my colleagues on the left want to, of course, blame the AR-15. However, Mr. Speaker, I stand before you to blame the homicidal maniac.

I walk in these Halls every single day, and I am surrounded by brave men and women who carry AR-15s and weapons every single day. I have to walk through a metal detector just to get in this building every single day. Just because I wear this pin does not make me more important than my children.

So what I offer is that instead of trying to erode our Second Amendment rights, I would offer let's protect our kids. Let's ensure that they have the same protection that we have in the Halls of Congress.

There are over 400 million guns currently in circulation. By the way, the overwhelming majority of the people who don't use weapons are law- abiding citizens like myself. I refuse to allow the erosion of our Second Amendment rights to further disarm our population, making us less safe as a further push toward communism, because that is what happens.

When you disarm your population, then the government runs amok. We, especially down in Texas, are not going to allow that to happen.

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Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close.

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Mr. HUNT. Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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