If you touch a brace to your shoulder are you in trouble?

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  • Sylvain

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    1   0   0
    Nov 30, 2010
    77,313
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    Normandy
    Saw it.Good on him for now following such a stupid "law". :yesway:

    A pen doesn't become a knife if you hold it with an ice pick grip.

    ice-pick-pen.jpg
     

    Kirk Freeman

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    8   0   0
    Mar 9, 2008
    47,969
    113
    Lafayette, Indiana
    "This is not a rifle."

    Uh huh.

    Quick question, is this a shotgun or a pistol.

    50440.jpg


    Ask the Court of Appeals, they told us to take Johnny Estep's "intent" and get stuffed. No one was out to get Johnny Estep either.

    If anything brace gives us an excellent void for vagueness argument for the NFA.
     

    ScouT6a

    Master
    Rating - 92.9%
    13   1   0
    Mar 11, 2013
    1,732
    63
    I have seen plenty of people arrested for breaking a law. I have yet to see anyone arrested for going against an opinion letter.
    There never has been a law against touching one of these braces to your shoulder.
    My intention was to build an AR pistol, with a stabilizing brace. Turns out, after I finished the build, that due to the OAL, the ATF says it can be classified as a "firearm" and I can attach a forward vertical grip. Most of the time, I don't have a grip mounted because I wanted a pistol build. Nice to have the option and nice to have the brace for those long shots.
     

    ArcadiaGP

    Wanderer
    Site Supporter
    Rating - 100%
    11   0   0
    Jun 15, 2009
    31,726
    113
    Indianapolis
    Unless after doing so you inform the ATF that you did it... (or you have cameras in your home linked to the authoritahs) you should be ok.
     

    Old Dog

    Expert
    Rating - 100%
    2   0   0
    Mar 4, 2016
    1,376
    97
    Central Indiana
    I heard that shouldering a pistol with a brace would cause instant injury or death, or else the ATF black choppers would swoop down and take you away never to be seen again. Can't remember exactly which one it was.:dunno:
     

    HoughMade

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Oct 24, 2012
    35,615
    149
    Valparaiso
    I'm not so sure I'd trust MAC on the definition of "intent". Generally speaking, you "intend" the logical results of what you voluntarily do. Whether you "intend to break the NFA" is irrelevant. "Accidentally" touch your shoulder? True accident? No intent...but you don't prove intent by asking a guy "did you intend to touch it to your shoulder"? Well, you could, but that, essentially, never happens. No. Intent is proven by looking at what a person did and evaluating whether it appears that they did it voluntarily, which is enough to get to a jury on intent.

    Now, as for a what a judge or jury would do? He's optimistic. As likely as his scenario is one where the judge or jury view the "stabilizing brace" as an effort to circumvent the SBR rules and is too cute by half...which is what I originally thought about these braces. It's possible, though doubtful, that a "jury of your peers" would include only INGO members.

    Dumb laws- certainly, but until they are changed....
     
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    HoughMade

    Grandmaster
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    0   0   0
    Oct 24, 2012
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    Valparaiso
    It may be dumb, but not breaking the law isn't hard.

    It's no more difficult to keep a brace on a pistol off your shoulder than it is to keep a stock off your pistol and off your shoulder.
     

    Excalibur

    Master
    Rating - 0%
    0   2   0
    May 11, 2012
    1,855
    38
    NWI
    It may be dumb, but not breaking the law isn't hard.

    It's no more difficult to keep a brace on a pistol off your shoulder than it is to keep a stock off your pistol and off your shoulder.

    But it isn't a law that says you can't shoulder a brace like a stock because it legally isn't a stock. One thing about the Canadian gun laws that is actually ok is that a gun is class by it's designed, not by how you use it later on, apparently.

    There is no law, and this IS an opinion letter.

    Braces are still really popular and in the hands of countless people. Just recently, I got the SBT folding brace thingy on my Scorpion and SB Tactical is currently out of stock on it.
     

    HoughMade

    Grandmaster
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    0   0   0
    Oct 24, 2012
    35,615
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    Valparaiso
    So use it like a brace and no problem.

    Do what you want and chances are there will never be a problem. I don't prefer to gamble on the 1% chance (or whatever it is) of a criminal charge and I would never counsel someone that there is no legal issue here. The letter is information about how the ATF intends to enforce the law. There are no guarantees that a judge or jury would see it their way, but there is no guanrantee they will see it another way either.

    Let's get the law regarding SBRs and SRSs changed and forget about this nonsense.
     

    Kirk Freeman

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    8   0   0
    Mar 9, 2008
    47,969
    113
    Lafayette, Indiana
    So use it like a brace and no problem.

    Do what you want and chances are there will never be a problem. I don't prefer to gamble on the 1% chance (or whatever it is) of a criminal charge and I would never counsel someone that there is no legal issue here. The letter is information about how the ATF intends to enforce the law. There are no guarantees that a judge or jury would see it their way, but there is no guanrantee they will see it another way either.

    Let's get the law regarding SBRs and SRSs changed and forget about this nonsense.

    Treat the disease and stop monkeying about with the symptoms. Good advice.
     
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