In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News on Tuesday, Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) said that the Biden administration "had declared war on the Second Amendment," according to the publication.
Hudson made this remark in relation to the recent AR-pistol stabilizer bracing rule issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and what he perceives to be a broader movement toward widespread regulatory gun control.
Look at Biden's most recent budget request, which includes a startling $1.9 billion to support the ATF and is a significant increase to the agency, Hudson added. So, I believe that the pistol brace rule is just the beginning of their intentions.
The Republican-led House must battle against attacks on the Second Amendment, he continued, adding, “It’s important that we stop them here.”
When we asked Hudson if he thought the ATF was set up to circumvent Congress and enact regulatory gun control for years to come, he responded, "I do."
He added, “Certainly the leadership of the ATF, I can’t say that about the folks that work over there, but certainly the leadership of the ATF seems to be perfectly aligned with this administration and they are enemies to the Second Amendment.”
After that, Hudson emphasized that he and his House colleagues will use the Congressional Review Act to “give the Democrats an opportunity to either vote for freedom or vote with their leadership. If they choose the wrong path then we’re going to try to punish them at the ballot box.”
Biden plans to use an executive order Tuesday to move the country closer to universal background checks and other controls that Congress has refused to pass. https://t.co/uddg9pi1vY
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) March 14, 2023
He talked of how the fight against regulatory gun control will be a campaign issue for Republicans if the Democrats stand with Biden's ATF instead of the American people, going on to forecast, "We need a Republican-run Senate to go along with the House and we need to pick up seats in the House."
Hudson then spoke directly to the ATF’s pistol brace rule:
"This defies common sense. Back in 2021 I wanted to put a face on this issue, so we had the press conference where we brought in the combat-disabled veterans and let them talk about it.
Because even on the ATF’s own website, where they describe these pistol braces, they say the point of them is to allow combat-disabled veterans to carry the weight of an AR pistol; to provide them stability. Yet here they are with this rule to try to treat it as short barrel rifle. It’s counter intuitive."
On June 16, 2021, Breitbart News reported Hudson’s efforts against the then-proposed pistol brace rule, highlighting his claim that the ATF’s push to require registration of AR pistols with pistol braces equated to a tax on “disabled combat veterans.”
