ATF proposes removing 2023 'factoring criteria' used to classify firearms with stabilizing braces
ATF rulemaking 2026-08930 — status: rule proposed
Official title: Removing Factoring Criteria for Firearms With Attached “Stabilizing Braces”
What it does
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives published a proposed rule (May 6, 2026) to remove two paragraphs added by its 2023 final rule that set out "factoring criteria" for determining when a firearm with an attached stabilizing brace is "designed... to be fired from the shoulder" and therefore a rifle. The 2023 rule was the subject of multiple court challenges; several courts enjoined, stayed, or vacated portions of it and it has rarely been in effect. The proposed rule would delete those specific regulatory paragraphs from the definition of "rifle" and is open for public comment as a notice of proposed rulemaking.
Industry impact
If finalized, the change would eliminate the 2023 regulatory test ATF added for classifying brace-equipped firearms, which is likely to reduce the number of pistols or brace-equipped firearms that ATF would treat as NFA short-barreled rifles under that particular regulatory formulation. Manufacturers and retailers could see reduced compliance uncertainty when designing, marketing, and selling brace-equipped pistols and fewer transactions triggering NFA transfer procedures tied to the 2023 criteria. NFA/SOT holders and dealers should still note that statutory definitions and other facts-and-circumstances analyses remain available to ATF, so some brace-equipped firearms could still be treated as rifles in particular cases. The proposal reverses a specific regulatory test but does not amend the underlying statutes governing NFA classifications.
Latest official status: Proposed rule: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
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