FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 31, 2023
Contact: Press_Paul@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul, M.D. (R-KY) joined Senators Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS) and John Kennedy (R-LA) in introducing the Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Today (SHORT) Act, legislation that fights back against the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) recently announced federal registry for firearms with stabilizing braces. U.S. Congressman Andrew Clyde (GA-09) has introduced an identical bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

“The protections afforded by the Second Amendment are indispensable, and the ATF’s new rule only restricts access to responsible gun owners, further infringing upon their constitutional rights. I’m proud to support the SHORT Act that will roll back the Biden administrations dangerous attempt to make it more difficult for law-abiding Americans to protect themselves and their families,” said Senator Paul.

“Finalization of this pistol brace rule represents the worst fears of gun owners across the country,” said Senator Marshall. “The SHORT Act will protect Americans from the anti-2nd Amendment gun registry that the ATF is abusing the National Firearms Act to create. This Congress, I challenge my colleagues in both chambers to make protecting Americans’ 2nd Amendment Rights a priority and sign onto this legislation that will stop the ATF’s pistol brace rule in its tracks.”

“The Biden administration is going to keep looking for ways to penalize law-abiding gunowners unless Congress makes their rights clear. A brace that countless disabled Americans use to exercise their Second Amendment rights should not be regulated by unelected anti-gun bureaucrats, and this bill would force the Biden ATF to stop devising new restrictions for legal firearms,” said Senator Kennedy.

“Congress cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the Biden Administration’s weaponization of the NFA and ongoing assault on Americans’ Second Amendment freedoms. In the face of President Biden’s unconstitutional tactics and backdoor gun control, the SHORT Act provides a permanent solution to combat the unlawful Pistol Brace Rule and protect Americans’ constitutional right to keep and bear arms. I’m proud to reintroduce this legislation with Senator Marshall and lead the fight on behalf of all law-abiding gun owners across our great nation against the Biden Administration’s latest gun-grabbing measure,” said Congressman Clyde.

In the U.S. Senate, Senators John Barrasso (WY), John Boozman (AR), Mike Crapo (ID), Ted Cruz (TX), Steve Daines (MT), Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS), Mike Lee (UT), Cynthia Lummis (WY), Markwayne Mullin (OK), Mike Risch (ID), Mike Rounds (SD), Rick Scott (FL), and John Thune (SD) are original cosponsors of this legislation.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) and Gun Owners of America (GOA) both endorsed the SHORT Act upon its reintroduction.

You can read the full text of the SHORT Act HERE.

Background on the SHORT ACT:

The SHORT Act will remove the unconstitutional taxation, registration, and regulation in the draconian National Firearms Act (NFA) of firearms such as Short Barreled Rifles (SBR), Short Barreled Shotguns (SBS), and Any Other Weapons (AOW).

The bill is needed to push back against the Biden Administration’s attacks on millions of gun owners with his attempted ban on certain pistols through the ATF’s rule change.

Using the NFA, the Biden Administration is pretending people who own pistols with stabilizing braces in fact possess illegal short barreled rifles. ATF is using this excuse to facilitate a ban, forcing gun owners to violate their rule or participate in an unconstitutional “Amnesty Registration of Pistol Brace weapons,” in order to keep their own firearms.

The only way to protect gun owners from the Biden Administration and ensure the ATF does not enact this rule (or any future version of it) is by deregulating NFA firearms through the elimination of unconstitutional and unnecessary restrictions, taxation, and registration placed on NFA firearms in 1934.

Short-Barreled Rifle Deregulation:

• An SBR is a rifle that has a barrel length less than 16 inches or an overall length less than 26 inches.
• SBRs, along with SBSs and AOWs, are not any more dangerous than any other firearm.
• The ATF reports that there are over 532,000 registered SBRs as of May 2021.
• SBRs include many rifles but the most popular SBRs are variants of the AR-15.
• Under ATF Proposed Rule 2021R-08, any rifle with a stabilizing brace would de facto be designated an SBR and thus be subject to all NFA Regulations. This means the Biden Administration may be registering, taxing, and regulating as many as 40 million lawfully purchased pistols without the passage of a new law.

Short-Barreled Shotgun Deregulation:

• An SBS is a shotgun that has a barrel length less than 18 inches or an overall length less than 26 inches.
• The ATF reports that there are over 162,000 registered SBSs as of May 2021.
• Additionally, this legislation would remove the unconstitutional “sporting use” requirement for shotguns, which allows ATF bureaucrats to arbitrarily regulate certain shotguns like explosives.

Any Other Weapon Deregulation:

• An AOW is an ambiguous catch-all term for firearms that do not fit neatly into the provided definitions. Without removing this definition, the ATF could abuse this statue to justify another ban on pistols. This is a crucial provision to end the attack on American’s Second Amendment rights.
• The ATF reports that there are over 67,000 registered AOWs as of May 2021.

Record Destruction:

• Additionally, the legislation would require the ATF destroy all records relating to the registration, transfer, or manufacture of these NFA firearms, preventing the ATF from further harassing owners or confiscating these firearms. Gun registration always leads to gun confiscation.

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