H.J. Res. 44, a joint resolution providing for Congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives relating to ‘‘Factoring Criteria for Firearms with A

H.J. Res. 44 would disapprove the final rule “Factoring Criteria for Firearms With Attached ‘Stabilizing Braces’,” which was submitted by the Department of Justice and took effect on January 31, 2023, the day it was published in the Federal Register. The resolution would invoke a legislative process established by the Congressional Review Act to repeal the final rule and prohibit the department from issuing the same or a similar rule in the future.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) regulates firearms under the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) and the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA). The NFA requires certain guns, including short-barreled rifles, to be licensed and registered with the ATF and subjects them to various taxes, including a $200 tax on the transfer of those weapons and on the production by anyone other than a qualified manufacturer. The final rule reclassifies certain firearms equipped with a stabilizing brace that allows the user to fire from their shoulder as short-barreled rifles. Thus, the owners and manufacturers of those weapons are subject to taxation under the NFA. Disapproval of the final rule would return those firearms to regulation under the GCA, which does not require registration or transfer and production taxes.