New rule on firearm stabilizing braces impacting Amarillo gun owners

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - A lawsuit being filed by an Amarillo man, against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for changing a rule over gun braces, is still underway.

According to Darren Britto, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit from Amarillo checked with the law office handling the suit yesterday and as of right now it is still in the court house of the federal court here in town.

He wrote an article called “Brace yourselves! How to sue the ATF” about why he decided to sue and his experience so far.

“Everybody has been very supportive. There is a concern when you put your name on a lawsuit like this because you will be nationally recognized, good or bad, and for myself that’s something I had to weigh in on and a had an introspective moment before I agreed to put my name on the lawsuit,” says Britto.

The lawsuit is over a rule change regarding stabilizing braces for AR pistols, and has some panhandle gun owners having to make some tough decisions.

Gun owners, depending on the brace they own, will have to either register their pistol or destroy certain stocks.

So far Jeff Srygly, owner of Jeff’s Gunslingers says he had advised many gun owners since the change two months ago.

“Some of the ones I’ve talked to they hadn’t brought up at the end, we’ve talked through the different ways that they can, they can go about trying to be compliant, whether that is filing the appropriate paperwork with the ATF or what kind of modifications they need to make to become compliant,” says Srygley.

However, Britto says anyone should be allowed to use a brace.

“It’s a cosmetic feature. It has nothing to do, doesn’t increase lethality doesn’t mitigate lethality. If anything, it makes the firearm safer because you can brace it to make sure it’s more stable,” said Britto

Srygley guesses one in every third gun owner has a gun bracer which would affect many in the panhandle.

“We have 40 million guns that are impacted. Why come after them now?,” asks Srygley.

Britto, who has been handling guns for over 30 years, believes there’s a goal in mind.

“Those that are anti-gun are doing things incrementally to take the rights away. They won’t do it in one fell swoop they won’t repeal the second amendment. So what they do is they make it harder to utilize those implements. It’s an incremental step in you know, in the direction of tyranny,” continued Britto.

Britto says taking part in the law suit and writing his article is his way of supporting the second amendment and defending his rights.

“If you asked me who am I doing this for, it’s it’s for my grandchildren that are yet to be born,” said Britto.

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