State Legality MatrixPistol BracesNew York
Statute-cited, last verified 2026-08-04
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 requires NFA approval and registration; a configuration that remains a pistol does not. Building an actual short-barreled rifle is still an NFA act: Form 1, fingerprints, CLEO notification, a NICS check, and registration all apply. The federal making tax has been $0 since January 1, 2026 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and eForm approvals currently run days to a couple of weeks.
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.
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 requires NFA approval and registration; a configuration that remains a pistol does not. Building an actual short-barreled rifle is still an NFA act: Form 1, fingerprints, CLEO notification, a NICS check, and registration all apply. The federal making tax has been $0 since January 1, 2026 under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and eForm approvals currently run days to a couple of weeks.