The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives unveiled a rule proposal that would increase what is required to obtain a federal firearms license (FFL) for gun sellers to close a so-called “gun show loophole,” according to a report from ABC News.
Reportedly, officials from Biden’s Justice Department told reporters that the agency will propose a rule that is more specific that the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was signed into law last year. Previous rules did not require those who claimed that selling guns is not their main source of income from obtaining a license. Now, those selling guns at gun shows, flea markets, and in other similar settings will need a license to do so.
"The prior definition before that, [before] the BSCA was implemented and signed by the president, focused on when a person earns their livelihood from dealing in firearms," a senior DOJ official reportedly said of the proposed rule on the call with reporters. "The revised, new definition covers anyone devotes time, attention and labor to dealing with firearms as a regular course of trade or business to predominantly earn a profit. So, the rulemaking is focused on that new terminology to predominantly earn a profit."
"The proposed rule would amend the ATF regulations to clarify that firearm dealing that requires a license and conduct conducting a background check does not solely occur in brick-and-mortar stores," a senior DOJ official said. "It also encompasses dealing at gun shows flea markets mail order and over the internet. The proposed rule reinforces and makes clear that there is no gun show loophole, there is no internet loophole recognized under federal law. Instead, a gun dealer must obtain a license and run background checks, no matter what menu that person engages in this."
This is the Biden administration’s latest attempt to go after the Second Amendment. Townhall previously reported how the ATF worked to reverse a decade-old rule allowing pistol braces after Biden entered office. This type of rule would turn millions of Americans into felons. A federal court recently ruled that the rule is likely illegal.
"First, they said five guns, but now, anyone who sells a single firearm in a given year and makes even a penny of profit will be subject to dealer requirements, including a background check," Erich Pratt, the senior vice president of Gun Owners of American Senior Vice President, told ABC.
"People need to realize this is just the next step in the anti-gunners' longform playbook to enact backdoor universal registration of firearms, and eventually, to confiscate all firearms. They will not stop until that day,” he added.
Townhall covered how a Wall Street Journal report found that the Biden administration revoked gun licenses from firearms dealers at an unprecedented rate over the past two years. Reportedly, the ATF revoked the licenses of 122 gun dealers in the last fiscal year that began in October. This is up from 90 from the last fiscal year, and 27 in 2021. WSJ noted that the Trump and Obama administrations never revoked more than 81 dealers’ licenses annually since at least 2013.