Staff Reports
The court fight over the ATF’s “Engaged in the Business” rule just hit another roadblock. United States District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk refused to lift the injunction that keeps the Biden administration’s attempt to broaden who needs a Federal Firearms License (FFL) on ice. In plain English: the ATF tried to repackage a controversial rule and the judge called the move out for what it is — regulatory overreach dressed up as paperwork.
What Judge Kacsmaryk actually said
The judge didn’t mince words. He called the Justice Department “too clever by half” and wrote that earlier court orders from 2024 and 2026 found the ATF violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it issued the Engaged in the Business rule. “The Court’s 2024 and 2026 Orders were clear: ATF violated the [Administrative Procedures Act] when it promulgated the Engaged in the Business Rule, so the rule cannot stand,” he wrote. He added that the government couldn’t dodge those orders by simply rearranging a few words. That’s a judicial slap that echoes beyond this one regulation.
Why the ATF rule matters for gun owners
The so-called “Engaged in the Business” rule would have widened who counts as a firearms dealer. In practice, that could force lots of private sellers into the Federal Firearms License system, or worse, put ordinary people at risk of criminal penalties if a sale looked like it was done “for profit.” The ATF said it was just clarifying definitions — like who is “engaging in the business” or what counts as a “principal objective of livelihood and profit.” But judges and gun-rights advocates saw it for what it was: a backdoor way to impose near-universal background checks and to regulate everyday transfers that Congress never approved.
Political theater, regulatory raw power
Attorney General Todd Blanche even announced there would be dozens of ATF rule changes coming — repeals in some places, rewrites in others — including this very rule. That press-table flourish looks like an administration trying to rewrite policy by regulation instead of through elected lawmakers. When agencies use rulemaking to achieve politically charged goals that Congress rejected, courts will — and should — push back. That’s what Kacsmaryk did here.
What comes next and why conservatives should care
The injunction stays. That means the ATF can’t enforce the Engaged in the Business rule while the legal fight continues. The Justice Department can appeal, revise its rule, or try a new legal tack — but judges have already flagged the agency’s approach as unlawful. For conservatives who value the Constitution, limited government and the right to lawmaking through elected representatives, this is a win for separating policy from regulatory overreach. If the Biden administration wants tighter gun rules, it should go to Congress — not to bureaucrats drafting new strings of definitions hoping no one notices.
