Well.. that just happened. ATF classification ruling that ArmBrace = SBR

[lazyengineer]

Well.....
I'm not a lawyer, so this is just IMO.
Believe the "ban date" is still on, 5/31.
Technically yes you can submit, but what I've read is that perhaps, if your application is not "received", or "approved" or at some sort of stage (and how do we really know that anyway? They will be so swamped), theoretically they can come to your house on 6/1 and arrest you for an illegal brace/sbr. The application, as it were, gives you away. That is one scenario I have heard, frankly it would make me nervous.
So I don't know what a person should actually do at this point.

Not really. The disinformation on this topic is pretty bad. Stay the Hell away from YouTube Personalities for info on this topic.

Here's the hard reality - this isn't going away. If you have an affected item, it's going to be considered an NFA SBR violation starting June 1. Unless the court system also tosses SBR law; ATF has basically declared Game On; and will take people to court for the judge to decide if that armbrace that looks like a stock, and works like a stock; wasn't intended to be a stock. Don't expect that conversation to end well. Fortunately you're not PSA and not that interesting... until you are.

As to the paperwork:
Your application gets an automated submittal acknowledgment email, which counts basically as a temporary stamp for as long as it takes to get an official ruling. If the official ruling is a declined, you can resubmit. There is no swamping of the system going on, as compliance statistics posted by ATF were pretty low - but that was early on, so maybe that's changed. Approval times are random, with some folks getting it in just 3 weeks. If you submit on the last day, and it takes 5 years to approve, your submittal email still covers you for the duration. If you are then denied, you are not raided, but you do have to then either resubmit (via paper - for some reason; but they specifically state this), or comply with alteration requirements. Again, you aren't that interesting - they made it clear gun dealer and commercial entities are going to be their focus. If you are PSA; expect them to be at your door on June 2nd. but then, PSA has quietly gotten into compliance with this whole thing months ago.

Also, be aware it is codified law that NFA applications cannot be used as evidence against you - and I don't think can even be used to initiate an investigation. there are known felons who got machine guns in and got to keep them, during the 1968 Amnesty. TBH, I kind of wonder if you could admit to heinous crimes in one, and then be protected; but I wouldn't advise trying that card! (or committing heineos crimes; and I think it has to be germane to the application to be protected)

What's the smart play, and what should you do? I guess that's an individual decision. Me, I think a 14.5" Pin and Weld is a fantastic configuration anyway. If the plan is for this to just go away - it's not. You won't get raided, and even if you did, in most cases it'll be a Move On About Your Business Citizen, as they seize the offending item. Congrats, you just got robbed by Highwaymen. But it'll be a gun that as time goes on, you won't be able to take to competition, use for hunting, use for range sessions and a public range, and definitely don't want to use for home defense - last thing you need is to be holding something now enforced as an NFA violation, while standing over someone bleeding out on the front steps.

Personally, if you want to maximize your hedge over the next 20 years, having SOME things in NFA, and other things not, kind of IMHO protects you best. Like, say.. if you had a machine gun in 1967. Registered it in the 1968 amnesty. And then decided you really wanted a machine gun in 1988, after they closed to the NFA and banned new machine-gun registrations. The one thing I am sure of, is there will be some large gun control in the next 20 years, and it'll be ugly. It's possible the portion of guns in the NFA registry will be the first ones to go. Or it's possible the portion of guns in the NFA registry, are the only ones left to legally have and use. Personally, I consider that to be the more likely. In any event, having a pile in both locations, might prove the best hedge to continuing to (legally and usably) have something - JMHO.