Ernst Counters Biden Admin Rule Turning Law-Abiding Gunowners into Felons

WASHINGTON – Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a strong supporter of Iowans’ Second Amendment rights, voted to nullify the Biden administration’s anti-Second Amendment pistol brace rule.

Today, she opposed President Biden’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) rulethat would reclassify pistols as short-barreled rifles if they have a stabilizing brace attachment, even though many disabled veterans and other Americans rely on these braces to use their firearms.

“The Biden administration’s effort to reclassify pistols as short-barreled rifles is a blatant attempt to take guns out of the hands of law-abiding gun owners who use their Constitutionally-protected Second Amendment rights to keep their families and communities safe,” Ernst said. “Today, I voted to provide a critical check on the Biden administration’s attempt to take away the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Iowans.”

Under the ATF’s rule, otherwise lawful gun owners could face up to 10 years in jail and thousands of dollars in fines if they fail to register pistols with stabilizing braces with the ATF. If gun owners do not register their firearms, they would have to destroy the firearm, surrender their firearm to the ATF, or remove the brace in such a way that it cannot be reattached.

Ernst has worked to hold the ATF accountable by standing up against ATF agents knocking on the doors of private residences, where many law-abiding gun owners live, and asking them to display a recently purchased firearm. She has also exposed the ATF’s routine misclassification of administrative positions as law enforcement jobs, improperly costing the federal agency millions in pay and enhanced benefits over a five-year span.

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