AR pistols are not an SBR replacement… And that is a very good thing.
The hubbub surrounding the ATF’s opinions on shouldering the Sig SB15 Pistol Stabilizing Brace seems to have thrown a bucket of cold water on last year’s fever pitch AR pistol excitement. Now more than ever, it is clear that AR pistols are not the SBR analog that people want them to be and they never will be as long as the ATF says you shouldn’t shoulder them. I have owned my AR pistol(s) for quite a while now. I continue to enjoy training with it and shooting it. I won’t be giving it up anytime soon.
Certainly, the way owners shoot AR pistols may change based on the opinion letters, but I think many of the downers are being short sighted in writing them off completely. They can still do things some useful things that an SBR can’t…
- Pistols can usually be carried loaded in a vehicle under the owner’s CCW permit. This is not the case with rifles in all jurisdictions.
- Pistols can be carried across state lines without having to notify the ATF (via form 5320-20). This is especially nice if you, like me, live near state borders.
- The obvious one is that you don’t have a tax stamp and $200 tax tied up in it like you would an in SBR.
- Finally, there are still states and jurisdictions that do not allow residents to own SBRs.
To be clear, I am not saying AR pistols are better than SBRs because they aren’t – they’re different. It is probably better to think of AR pistols as an entirely different animal than an SBR, rather than a replacement. They offer different capabilities and have different strengths. When I stop looking at what I’ve been told I can’t do with an AR pistol and start looking at what I can, I wonder why everyone who has more than a couple AR-15s don’t have an AR pistol at their disposal.
