The majority of AR "pistols" came with standard milspec carbine tubes.
I saw my first brace equipped AR back in 2012. At the time I recognized it was just a run around the NFA. I figured it would be slapped down fairly quickly.
Five years later and they were still going strong, so I started building/buying. But I figured that sooner or later the "Man" was going to wake up and figure out the scam. The whole large format pistol market pretty much existed because you could attach a brace to them and not deal with the NFA stuff. Those of us who are older know that AR pistols had been around for years but were a very niche market and most people just ignored them. Then the braces started showing up and people jumped on the large format pistols because with the brace you could avoid all that NFA nonsense. Those large format pistols are just plain fun to shoot. A Ruger 10/22 Charger with a brace or a Ruger PC Charger with a brace will bring a smile to your face in a heartbeat. 9mm AR "pistols" suddenly became quite popular, why not, they're a real hoot to shoot.
Well, the "Man" figured it out. They at least gave us more than 120 days to come into compliance, offered free registrations with no engravings AND allowed us to keep the guns with the braces on them till approval. Any normal adult had to know that this was coming.
It could have been much worse.
The sad thing is that there ae millions of unsuspecting gun owners out there that have no idea that come June 1 their range toy is a felony.
Yes..they are such kind tyrants.