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Rep. Clyde Introduces Bill to Fight Biden Administration’s Attacks on Second Amendment Rights

Washington, September 29, 2022
Washington, D.C. — On Thursday, Congressman Andrew Clyde (GA-09) introduced H.R. 9033, the Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Today (SHORT) Act, to protect American citizens’ Second Amendment rights from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) proposed registry for firearms with stabilizing braces. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D (R-KS) introduced the Senate companion bill.
 
"As stewards of the Constitution, Members of Congress cannot allow President Biden to further trample on Americans’ Second Amendment liberties through the continued weaponization of the NFA," said Rep. Clyde. "By deregulating these NFA firearms, this legislation prohibits the ATF from enacting an unconstitutional pistol ban through a simple rule change — safeguarding the Second Amendment and preventing Americans from being subjected to the Biden Administration’s tyrannical, gun-grabbing tactics. I’m proud to partner with Senator Marshall in leading the fight to protect Americans’ unalienable, constitutional right to keep and bear arms against President Biden’s relentless attacks on law-abiding gun owners."
 
"The ATF’s federal gun registry is just the latest proof that the Biden Administration has no understanding of firearms and only seeks to limit American citizens’ ability to rightfully own firearms of their choosing," said Senator Marshall. "Gun control activists disguised as bureaucrats are corrupting the ATF, and my legislation will put a stop at their extremely misguided and incorrect interpretations of the National Firearms Act."
 
Upon introduction, Rep. Clyde’s SHORT Act received endorsements from both the Gun Owners of America (GAO) and the National Rifle Association (NRA).
 
"Rep. Clyde’s legislation will repeal elements of the archaic National Firearms Act, which the Biden ATF is using to justify their pistol ban and ‘amnesty registration’ plan — a policy change that will affect millions of law-abiding gun owners and do nothing to curb rising crime. GOA is proud to support the Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Act, which will protect gun owners and halt these anti-gun infringements," said GOA's Director of Federal Affairs Aidan Johnston.
 
"This important legislation introduced by Rep. Clyde protects the Second Amendment rights of every law-abiding American," said National Rifle Association-Institute for Legislative Affairs Executive Director Jason Ouimet. "The ATF should not be free to arbitrarily move the goalposts on gun owners by subjecting them to punitive taxes and needless registration for simply exercising their right to keep and bear arms."
 
Read the Daily Caller’s exclusive on Rep. Clyde and Sen. Marshall’s SHORT Act HERE.
 
Background
 
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).
 
Rep. Clyde’s legislation is needed to push back against the Biden Administration’s attacks on millions of gun owners with his attempted ban on certain pistols through an ATF 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 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 with a barrel length less than 18 inches or an overall length less than 26 inches.
  • The ATF reports over 162,000 registered SBSs as of May 2021.
  • The SHORT Act 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 statute to justify another ban on pistols. This is a crucial provision to end the attack on Americans’ Second Amendment rights.
  • The ATF reports over 67,000 registered AOWs as of May 2021.
Record Destruction:
  • Additionally, the legislation would require the ATF to 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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