Bill Text: TX HCR31 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to overturn the "Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached 'Stabilizing Braces'" rule via the Congressional Review Act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 6-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-02 - Referred to State Affairs [HCR31 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HCR31-Introduced.html
| 88R9398 BPG-D | ||
| By: Cain | H.C.R. No. 31 | |
|
|
||
| WHEREAS, The United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, | ||
| Firearms and Explosives signed its final rule 2021R-08F, "Factoring | ||
| Criteria for Firearms with Attached 'Stabilizing Braces,'" on | ||
| January 13, 2023; and | ||
| WHEREAS, This rule outlines the factors ATF would consider | ||
| when evaluating firearms equipped with a purported "stabilizing | ||
| brace" or other rearward attachment in order to determine whether | ||
| these weapons would be deemed a "rifle" or "short-barreled rifle" | ||
| under the Gun Control Act of 1968, or a "rifle" or "firearm" subject | ||
| to regulation under the National Firearms Act; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Under this rule, citizens who possess braced | ||
| firearms will have 120 days to register, destroy, or reconfigure | ||
| them, or to turn them over to the ATF; failure to do so could result | ||
| in serious criminal charges, placing the owners of up to 40 million | ||
| guns at risk of $250,000 in fines and a severe prison sentence; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The NFA division of the ATF is notoriously prone to | ||
| missing its own performance benchmarks; wait times for approval of | ||
| ATF forms and tax stamps routinely extend from 300 to 400 days; the | ||
| addition of 40 million firearms to the waitlist is likely to worsen | ||
| already unacceptable wait times, creating a legal limbo for owners | ||
| forced to comply with this new registration scheme, which is | ||
| clearly in violation of the Second Amendment to the | ||
| U.S. Constitution; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Fortunately, the Congressional Review Act allows | ||
| members of Congress to introduce a Joint Resolution of Disapproval | ||
| to reverse any agency rule or action they deem unconstitutional; by | ||
| this means, Congress can remedy a subversion of the lawmaking | ||
| process that is putting the rights and liberty of gun owners at | ||
| risk; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the 88th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
| hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to overturn the | ||
| "Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached 'Stabilizing | ||
| Braces'" rule via the Congressional Review Act; and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
| copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
| the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the | ||
| Senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the | ||
| Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this | ||
| resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
| memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. | ||
