Staff Reports
A federal judge has stopped a new rule from the Biden administration that would have made background checks for people selling guns more expansive. The rule would have required anyone selling a gun to be licensed and conduct the same background checks as gun stores. U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk granted an injunction to Texas and several gun rights groups preventing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from implementing the rule in Texas, and also included members of a number of gun rights groups in this ruling. The judge ruled that several states did not have the standing to sue, but the ruling still covers members of the mentioned gun rights organizations.
Federal Judge Halts Biden's New Gun Control Rule a Day Before It Was to Go into Effect via @WestJournalism https://t.co/yd7rVxUgpU
— Kenny, USA Patriot (@kennethy69) May 21, 2024
The judge found that the rule was unfair when it came to those who sell and buy guns for their personal collection. He also argued that the rule was against the law it was supposedly enforcing and that it was imposing inappropriate presumptions. The ruling also stated that the statute’s safe harbor provision provides no safe harbor at all for the majority of gun owners. The ATF rule will remain on hold until a hearing on June 2.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton praised the ruling, saying that the rule was arbitrary and capricious and that it violated the Second Amendment. He argued that the Biden administration’s regulation would subject hundreds of thousands of law-abiding gun owners to presumptions of criminal guilt for engaging in constitutionally protected activities. Paxton claimed that the Biden administration cannot unilaterally overturn Americans’ constitutional rights and nullify the Second Amendment.
This ruling has stopped the Biden administration’s expansion of background check requirements for people selling guns, citing violations of the Second Amendment and the law it was enforcing. The ATF rule will remain on hold until the court reconsiders the issue in June.
