The American Revolution has many lessons for the People and the government to reflect on. Over taxation is not a good idea. The soon-to-be-expatriated colonists loved their tea, but were willing to toss it in the harbor in defiance. And the People took great exception to the confiscation of arms, cannon, and powder from the magazines. The unintended consequence of the King of England at the time being a jerk resulted in the birth of a new nation. Tyrants have to tyrant and the ATF just became the biggest booster club for Second Amendment organizations, unwittingly.

The game of chicken that has been playing out involves the People and the ATF. With the recent rule change coming into effect on pistol braces, forcing the illegal registration scheme upon the People, we’ve already found there to be mass non-compliance. The people have dumped the tea into the harbor. 

The legal challenges that have been waging war on the ATF may not have found the immediate relief that we all should have or hoped for. However, as reported previously, the preliminary injunctions out there seemingly apply to all members of the Second Amendment Foundation, Gun Owners of America, and Firearms Policy Coalition. A recent notice from our friends over at the Second Amendment Foundation celebrates that the unfortunate circumstances of governmental overreach has resulted in an explosion in their membership numbers. Golf clap to you ATF.

Following the clarification by a federal judge regarding the scope of a preliminary injunction in the Second Amendment Foundation’s case against the Biden administration’s new “arm brace rule” – that it applies to SAF members – interest in membership was so heavy during the first 24 hours it crashed the website.

U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle last week clarified her order granting, in part, SAF’s preliminary injunction in a case known as SAF, et.al. v. ATF, et. al. In that clarification, she wrote, “The Court confirms that its Preliminary Injunction Order applies to both the Second Amendment Foundation, Inc. and its members.”

SAF is joined in the case by Rainier Arms, LLC and two private citizens, Samuel Walley and William Green. They are represented by attorney Chad Flores at Flores Law in Houston, Texas.

“Interest in SAF membership has been simply stunning,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “In our 49 years of existence, we have never experienced such a spontaneous organic groundswell of public interest, from all over the country. Not only does this show the importance of fighting these legal battles on behalf of our members, and American gun owners in general, it also underscores the degree of public interest in the arm brace issue. We are both proud and humbled by the surge in memberships from people who see SAF as leading the charge against the ATF’s flip on pistol braces.”

“When Judge Boyle confirmed that our members are protected by the preliminary injunction,” noted SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut, “we were delighted, and obviously, so were the tens of thousands of people who quickly visited our website, causing it the overload. Luckily, that was a temporary problem, and we’re pushing ahead with the case.”

With more dollars in the coffers of groups like the Second Amendment Foundation, that means more work can be done to battle unconstitutional provisions in our laws. While I did not get any confirmation of this, I suspect that FPC and GOA have found similar boons in their membership numbers and more financial support.

Who’s to thank here? Aside from the groups doing the heavy lifting on this, we should probably be saluting President Silver Alert’s administration for pushing the ATF to make this rule change. Do we thank groups like Moms Demand Action, as we know they’ve been all in a fluster about pistol-braced arms for years, getting into the ears of policy makers in states like New Jersey – surely their crying for pistol-brace regulation did not go out to just New Jersey. Oh heck, let’s just thank them all. 

Thank you – gun-grabbing anti-civil liberty tyrants! Y’all finally rang a bell that can’t be unrung, have fun getting those crates out of the harbor!

Tireless efforts by advocates have made such wins possible. The real thanks goes to the organizations and the members of these organizations fighting for our rights, because without them, we’d not have the successes we’ve had – and truly would hang alone.

SAF offers several different tiers of memberships which are available here. Memberships can be for individuals, businesses and organizations. Annual membership is $15, a five-year membership is $50 and a life membership is $150. Membership is effective upon date of receipt.

For questions regarding membership, please contact [email protected].