Statement on the Department of Justice Action To Regulate Stabilizing Braces Used To Convert Pistols Into Short-Barreled Rifles

Keeping especially dangerous firearms off our streets reduces gun violence and saves lives. Today the U.S. Department of Justice finalized a rule to keep another type of especially dangerous weapon out of dangerous hands: pistols with attached stabilizing braces that turn the firearms into short-barreled rifles.

For decades, the Federal Government has placed stricter regulations on short-barreled rifles than other firearms because short-barreled rifles are accurate—like rifles—and concealable and easily maneuvered—like pistols. The gun industry has recently attempted to circumvent this long-standing Federal law by selling stabilizing braces that essentially convert a pistol into a short-barreled rifle. Families and communities across the country have paid the price: Dayton, Ohio—9 killed and 27 injured outside of a bar; Boulder, Colorado—10 killed at a grocery store.

The Justice Department is taking action to close this loophole and regulate these pistols with stabilizing braces as the dangerous weapons they are and make it harder for individuals intending to inflict carnage to obtain these weapons.

Today's action will save lives. It builds on my administration's already historic record of executive action to reduce gun violence and the enactment of the most significant bipartisan gun safety legislation in nearly three decades. But there is so much more to do. As I said when celebrating the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, we must seize the momentum and continue to act, including by once again banning assault weapons.