A federal judge in Texas has blocked, at least until June 2, enforcement of the Biden administration’s new “final rule” requiring background checks on gun buyers at gun shows and other places, according to Newsweek.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is hailing the ruling, which does not apply to Louisiana, Mississippi or Utah. Paxton said, in a prepared statement, “I am relieved that we were able to secure a restraining order that will prevent this illegal rule from taking effect. The Biden Administration cannot unilaterally overturn Americans’ constitutional rights and nullify the Second Amendment.”
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk is a Donald Trump appointee. In his 14-page decision, Judge Kacsmaryk wrote, “as this Court’s analysis makes clear, Defendants’ Final Rule is almost certainly violative of — at the least — the APA (Administrative Procedures Act).
As noted by Ammoland News, the ruling prevents the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from enforcing a new rule “on who needs a federal firearms license (FFL) to sell a gun.”
The Biden administration has made a big deal about pushing this new rule as a means of closing down the so-called “gun show loophole.” Critics say it is just another effort by the administration to ratchet down on gun owners and the tradition of private sales, which have long been protected by law.
Earlier this month attorneys general from 26 states sued the ATF in a challenge of the new rule. All are Republicans.
Judge Kacsmaryk also found the new rule violated the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which Joe Biden touted two years ago as a victory against “gun violence.”
In his ruling, the judge observed, the “Final Rule arbitrarily eviscerates Section 921(a)(21)(C)’s safe harbor provision. That provision reads: The term ‘engaged in the business’ . . . shall not include a person who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of his personal collection of firearms.”
But the ATF and Biden administration want these people to be considered “engaged in the business.”
The lawsuit was brought by the State of Texas, Tennessee Firearms Association, Virginia Citizens Defense League and Gun Owners of America.
