State Legality MatrixPistol BracesNew York
Statute-cited, not legal advice, last verified 2026-10-20
Banned
No. Any detachable-magazine semiautomatic pistol with a threaded barrel, barrel shroud, or 50-ounce weight is a banned assault weapon. Effective 2013-01-15.
Controlling law: N.Y. Penal Law §§ 265.00(3), 265.00(22)(c), 265.02(7) & 400.00(16-a)
Contested entry
New York applies a one-feature test to semi-auto pistols taking a detachable magazine, covering a folding or telescoping stock, a thumbhole stock, a second protruding handgrip, a magazine outside the pistol grip, a threaded barrel, a barrel shroud, a manufactured unloaded weight of 50 ounces or more, or a semi-auto version of an automatic firearm. A typical AR pistol trips three of those before a brace is installed, and an adjustable brace on a buffer tube is separately exposed as a telescoping stock. Possession is a class D felony and the only grandfather is SAFE Act registration for weapons possessed before January 15, 2013, a window that closed in 2014. Penal Law § 265.00(3) sweeps sub-16-inch rifles into the firearm definition and § 400.00 licenses only pistols and revolvers, so a Form 1 is not a workaround.
Federal law
The 2023 ATF stabilizing-brace rule was vacated nationwide and is not enforced, but that does not categorically make every brace-equipped firearm a pistol. Under 26 U.S.C. § 5845, federal classification still turns on whether the specific weapon is designed and intended to be fired from the shoulder. A brace-equipped firearm that meets the short-barreled-rifle definition is an NFA firearm; a configuration that remains a pistol is not. Since October 9, 2026, ATF does not enforce the NFA's Form 1 approval and registration requirements for SBRs, as a matter of enforcement discretion, but an SBR still needs an approved Form 5320.20 before interstate transport, state law still applies, and ATF says enforcement could resume if the policy changes. The federal making tax has been $0 since January 1, 2026 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Federal baseline verified 2026-10-09. Scope: Pistol stabilizing braces (SB Tactical, Maxim Defense, A3 Industries and similar) and the braced pistols they mount on. Short-barreled rifles and state assault-weapon feature tests are tracked as separate classes.
Common questions
No. Any detachable-magazine semiautomatic pistol with a threaded barrel, barrel shroud, or 50-ounce weight is a banned assault weapon. Effective 2013-01-15. Controlling law: N.Y. Penal Law §§ 265.00(3), 265.00(22)(c), 265.02(7) & 400.00(16-a).
The controlling law is N.Y. Penal Law §§ 265.00(3), 265.00(22)(c), 265.02(7) & 400.00(16-a). Any detachable-magazine semiautomatic pistol with a threaded barrel, barrel shroud, or 50-ounce weight is a banned assault weapon.
New York's rule took effect 2013-01-15. New York applies a one-feature test to semi-auto pistols taking a detachable magazine, covering a folding or telescoping stock, a thumbhole stock, a second protruding handgrip, a magazine outside the pistol grip, a threaded barrel, a barrel shroud, a manufactured unloaded weight of 50 ounces or more, or a semi-auto version of an automatic firearm. A typical AR pistol trips three of those before a brace is installed, and an adjustable brace on a buffer tube is separately exposed as a telescoping stock. Possession is a class D felony and the only grandfather is SAFE Act registration for weapons possessed before January 15, 2013, a window that closed in 2014. Penal Law § 265.00(3) sweeps sub-16-inch rifles into the firearm definition and § 400.00 licenses only pistols and revolvers, so a Form 1 is not a workaround.