Major gun-rights groups received a boost in support after obtaining a preliminary injunction against President Joe Biden’s pistol-brace ban.
In the final days before the ban went into effect, four separate injunctions were issued by Fifth Circuit courts blocking enforcement of it against three different groups. Members of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), and Gun Owners of America (GOA) all fell under the umbrella of the injunctions. That has generated new interest in joining those groups in the week since the grace period for registering brace-equipped guns with the ATF ran out.
SAF said it has seen unprecedented growth since District Judge Jane J. Boyle’s ruling in SAF v. ATF. The group told The Reload Thursday approximately 20,000 new members have joined since the injunction was introduced, with more than 1,000 buying a lifetime membership.
“In our 49 years of existence, we have never experienced such a spontaneous organic groundswell of public interest, from all over the country,” executive vice president Alan Gottlieb said in a press release. “Not only does this show the importance of fighting these legal battles on behalf of our members, and American gun owners in general, it also underscores the degree of public interest in the arm brace issue.”
Judge Boyle’s ruling was sandwiched between a fifth circuit panel from Mock v. Garland stating their injunction included Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) members and Judge Drew B. Tipton issuing an injunction against the ban for Gun Owners of America (GOA) members.
While the FPC and GOA would not disclose specific membership numbers or how many new members they’ve gained since the rulings, both groups have been active on social media indicating their membership numbers have risen.
“We are excited to have so many new members and look forward to aggressively destroying the Disarmament Regime’s agenda with each and every one of you,” the group tweeted on May 31st.
FPC even recently restructured its membership options to accommodate all the additions. It contends all members, new or old, will be covered by the injunction.
“We read the order to mean that the injunction applies to all FPC members since we have always represented all of our members in this case, not a subset of members,” the group tweeted on May 26.
GOA vice president Erich Pratt said the injunction his group received will cover millions of people.
“GOA and our millions of members nationwide will continue to fight back against this rogue anti-gun administration at every turn in defense of our rights,” he tweeted last week.
Americans turning to join gun-rights groups in order to take advantage of the temporary immunity they received is an unintended consequence of President Joe Biden’s order. It may also be part of the reason why so few gun owners complied with the registration requirement. As the ATF told The Reload last week, somewhere between 0.6 percent and 8 percent of pistol-brace-equipped guns were registered during the grace period. That leaves millions, or even tens of millions depending on the estimate, unregistered.
The ban, which went into effect in January, is part of President Biden’s push for gun-control measures nationwide. Firearms with barrels shorter than 16 inches and equipped with pistol braces that strap to a shooter’s forearm to assist with gun stability have been reclassified as short-barrel rifles under the order. As a result, they would be subject to the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA), and failing to register one is a federal felony that could result in up to 10 years in prison.
The lawsuits filed by the SAF, GOA, and FPC could result in the ban being declared unconstitutional and struck down entirely. The National Rifle Association, which is involved in an undecided brace ban case in the Eight Circuit alongside brace manufacturers and 25 Republican state attorneys general, filed a similar case in the Fifth Circuit as well this week.
A Fifth Circuit Panel is set to hear arguments on the merits in the FPC case against the ban on June 29th.
