A new rule mandating tens of thousands of gun owners to obtain a federal license to sell firearms online will not apply in Texas, thanks to a successful legal challenge by Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“Yet again, Joe Biden is weaponizing the federal bureaucracy to rip up the Constitution and destroy our citizens’ Second Amendment rights,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a news release announcing the lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Later in June, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction halting the enforcement of these new federal regulations that require gun sellers, including individuals and those at gun shows and flea markets, to conduct background checks.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, ruled to prevent the ATF from implementing these expanded background check requirements.
ATF’s new rule broadens the definition of what it means to be in the business of selling firearms. This change means that many gun owners who sell firearms online, at gun shows, or even from their vehicles will now need to obtain a federal firearms license (FFL), as first reported by The Dallas Morning News.
According to the White House, there are over 80,000 licensed gun dealers in the country, while unlicensed sellers could be over 20,000. The new rule would require unlicensed sellers to conduct background checks.
According to ATF’s new guidance, any activity involving the repetitive buying and selling of firearms to primarily earn a profit will generally require a license. Selling guns without this license is a federal felony, carrying a penalty of up to five years in prison.
There is no specific number of gun sales that automatically triggers the license requirement, and it does not need to be the seller’s primary job. Prosecutors don’t have to show that the seller actually made a profit.
