Removing Factoring Criteria for Firearms With Attached “Stabilizing Braces”

What it does

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives ("ATF") is proposing to amend Department of Justice ("Department") regulations on firearms with attached stabilizing braces. Courts have found that ATF's revisions in the 2023 final rule on the same topic violated the Administrative Procedure Act. Several courts have enjoined, stayed, or vacated the final rule, which has rarely been in effect. ATF is therefore proposing to remove from the regulatory definitions of "rifle" the two paragraphs added by the 2023 final rule that defined the term "designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder."

The Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Bureau's summary, as published in the Federal Register.

What it would change

2 parts of Title 27 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

27 CFR 478, 27 CFR 479

Before this

No earlier Federal Register document under regulation identifier 1140-AA98 since Jan. 1, 2025.

What happens next and when

Comments must be submitted in writing, and must be submitted on or before (or, if mailed, must be postmarked on or before) August 4, 2026. Commenters should be aware that the federal e-rulemaking portal comment system will not accept comments after midnight Eastern Time on the last day of the comment period.

The agency's dates, word for word.

Check it yourself

• The document in the Federal Register
• Docket ATF-2026-0335 on Regulations.gov
• Title 27 on eCFR

The record as published

Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register