Matt Gaetz proposes bill to ‘abolish the ATF’

WASHINGTON, D.C. (FLV) – Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-FL, introduced the “Abolish the ATF Act” to eliminate the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) after a recent ruling that tightens regulations on pistol stabilizing braces, according to reports.

On Friday, the ATF finalized a new regulation “that will treat guns with stabilizing accessories like short-barreled rifles, which require a federal license to own under the National Firearms Act.”

“Today’s rule makes clear that firearm manufacturers, dealers, and individuals cannot evade these important public safety protections simply by adding accessories to pistols that transform them into short-barreled rifles,” Attorney General Merrick Garland previously announced.

Gaetz filed H.R. 374 in response to the new regulation. He told Fox News Digital that it was the “final straw.”

I have a lot of disabled veterans in my district who enjoy pistol shooting and rely on stabilizing braces to be able to engage in the activity. The recent actions from the ATF essentially allow them to make case-by-case determinations on whether a pistol with a stabilizing brace is legal or an unlawful, sawed-off shotgun.

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-FL, to Fox News Digital

He said if the bill doesn’t pass, they will try to defund the ATF. 

“If that doesn’t work, we’re going to target the individual bureaucrats at the top of the ATF who have exceeded their authority in rule-making. And if that doesn’t work, we’re going to take a meat cleaver to the statutes that the ATF believes broadly authorize their actions,” he said.

Gaetz said it seems the ATF is “on a snipe hunt for regulatory action that virtue signals to the anti-gun left, but that has no real practical safety impact on Americans.”

Last week, the Justice Department said it submitted to the Federal Register, the “Stabilizing Braces” Final Rule, which “makes clear that when manufacturers, dealers, and individuals use stabilizing braces to convert pistols into rifles with a barrel of less than 16 inches, commonly referred to as a short-barreled rifles, they must comply with the laws that regulate those rifles, including the National Firearms Act (NFA).”

Back in April 2021, at an event with President Joe Biden, the Attorney General directed the ATF to address the issue of stabilizing braces.

To read the full details of the final rule, as submitted to the Federal Register, click here.