OTTAWA COUNTY, Okla. — Multiple sheriff’s offices in Oklahoma announced that they will not be enforcing the recent Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) ruling (2021R-08F) surrounding stabilizing braces.

According to the Department of Justice, the ruling makes it clear that when “manufacturers, dealers, and individuals use stabilizing braces to convert pistols into rifles with a barrel of less than 16 inches...they must comply with the laws that regulate those rifles, including the National Firearms Act (NFA).”

A social media post from The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) shows a signed statement from Ottawa Sheriff David Dean, claiming that OCSO will not enforce the ruling.

“I have instructed our deputies that if they locate a firearm with a stabilizing brace, during an investigative contact with a citizen, we are not going to take action,” Sheriff Dean said.

Sheriff Dean also said OCSO will not enforce the ruling because “the ATF cannot make law” and that “only Congress can pass laws and this ruling was not enacted by Congress.”

Sheriff Dean said if a crime has occurred with a weapon that has a stabilizing brace, OCSO will “take the appropriate actions and file the appropriate charges that are in the Oklahoma Statue book.”

The Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) also released a statement about the ruling.

In a social media post, Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado said TCSO will not “enforce, partake or support this rule because it is unconstitutional.”

Regalado claimed the ruling is “Federal overreach that will not impact the criminal element but only the law-abiding citizens rights under the Constitution of the United States of America.”

For more information about the ruling, including what to do if your firearm equipped with a stabilizing brace is now considered a short-barreled rifle, click here.

The ATF said the ruling does not affect stabilizing braces that are “objectively designed and intended as a “stabilizing brace” for use by individuals with disabilities, and not for shouldering the weapon as a rifle.” The ATF also said these types of braces are designed to the conform to the arm and not as a buttstock.

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