Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Gun Owners of America (GOA) yesterday filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Biden administration's ban on unregistered possession of pistols equipped with stabilizing braces, which took effect on January 31. The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, argues that the ban is arbitrary and capricious, contrary to law, and inconsistent with the Second Amendment. Like the Trump administration's ban on bump stocks, the pistol brace rule is based on an implausible reinterpretation of federal law that contradicted the position that federal regulators had taken for years. It therefore raises some of the same issues that persuaded the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit (which includes Texas) to rule that the bump stock ban violated the Administrative Procedure Act. At bottom, the question is whether administrative agencies can criminalize possession of heretofore legal products without congressional authorization.
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