By: Teresa Mull

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is working rapidly to regulate some AR pistols more severely.

The newly proposed rule would “designate certain AR-pistols as ‘short barreled rifles’ and place them under the purview of the National Firearms Act of 1934,” reports Breitbart.

The DOJ smoothly states these “new steps” “would enhance enforcement of the National Firearms Act (NFA) and aid states in drafting ‘Extreme Risk Protection Order’ laws,” otherwise known as red flag gun confiscation orders, which have been proven to be extremely dangerous, as well as unconstitutional.

“Enhancing” the enforcement of the NFA would mean, according to the DOJ’s release:

“…[imposing] heightened regulations on short-barreled rifles because they are easily concealable, can cause great damage, and are more likely to be used to commit crimes. But companies now sell accessories that make it easy for people to convert pistols into these more dangerous weapons without going through the statute’s background check and registration requirements. These requirements are important public safety measures because they regulate the transfer of these dangerous weapons and help ensure they do not end up in the wrong hands. The proposed rule would clarify when these attached accessories convert pistols into weapons covered by these heightened regulations.”

“Should this proposal become an actual regulation, it would mean the purchase of certain AR-pistols with stabilizer braces would require the purchaser to be fingerprinted and photographed, undergo a background check, pay the federal government a $200 tax on the firearm, and register the firearm with the ATF. That process takes nine or ten months to complete,” according to Breitbart.

Judge Benitez, in his recent decision on Miller v. Bonta, ruling California’s so-called “assault weapons” ban unconstitutional, noted that saying rifles “are disproportionately used in crimes” is a claim “not supported by the evidence.” He also cites FBI statistics showing you are more likely to be killed by a knife in America … or by someone else’s hands, fists, etc., than with any type of rifle.

You can read the entire DOJ proposal here, and be sure to submit comments in opposition to these rules, which will do nothing to stem crime, but only make law-abiding citizens more vulnerable and wreak havoc on the gun industry.

Teresa Mull ([email protected]) is editor of Gunpowder Magazine.