Chris Murphy: GOP Opposition to ATF Pistol Brace Rule Is About Legalizing Guns That Have Been Banned for 100 Years

As the vote to pass a resolution blocking the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) AR-pistol stabilizer brace rule was underway in the Senate Thursday, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) claimed Republicans are trying to legalize firearms that have been banned for 100 years.

Murphy tweeted:

America a crying out for Congress to do something about mass shootings. So what is Senate Republicans’ answer? To force a vote today on a resolution that would legalize a class of assault weapons that have been banned for 100 years.

I’m heading to the Senate floor to oppose it.

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) June 22, 2023

It is difficult to decipher Murphy’s tweet, as the Republican effort to block the ATF is about protecting guns with stabilizer braces that were legal to own without registration up until June 1, 2023.

Therefore, the Firearms Policy Coalition responded to Murphy’s tweet by simply saying, “That’s not what this vote would do. LOL.”

There is a chance that Murphy has adopted the ATF’s reclassification that categorizes AR-pistols with stabilizer braces as short-barrel rifles, in which case, Murphy’s tweet is still wrong because short-barrel rifles are not illegal; they are simply more regulated.

Related — “Absolutely Asinine”: Don Jr. Weighs In on DOJ’s Pistol Stabilizer Braces Ban

ahawkins

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.