Second Amendment advocates are slamming new rules from the Biden administration that will require thousands of additional gun dealers across the country to conduct background checks on buyers outside of gun shows and brick-and-mortar stores.
This rule means that tens of thousands of guns are sold each year by unlicensed dealers who do not conduct background checks to ensure potential buyers are not legally prohibited from possessing firearms. The aim is to close the loophole that made it possible.
The National Gun Rights Association told Fox News Digital that the new rules “effectively prohibit all private sales of firearms between individuals.”
“As we saw in the case of Brian Malinowski in Little Rock, the ATF will not hesitate to use excessive force, including murder, to punish offenders,” Dudley Brown, the group’s president, said in a statement. Stated. “This rule brings us one step closer to Biden’s dream of universal gun registration enforced by ATF jackbooted thugs.”
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A customer looks at a semi-automatic gun on display at a gun store on December 19, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Reuters/Jean Blevins/File photo)
The Second Amendment Institute told FOX News Digital that the ATF’s new rules are “another example of the agency exceeding its statutory authority for political purposes.”
“It violates the rights of law-abiding citizens and places an unnecessary burden on those seeking to exercise their Second Amendment rights,” the group said.
Aidan Johnston, director of federal affairs for Gun Owners of America, said the Biden administration is “weaponizing every tool in its toolbox to intimidate, harass and criminalize gun owners with illegal executive actions.” ” he criticized.
“This backdoor universal registration check rule is nothing less than a move to criminalize the sale of a single gun without a background check, ensuring that the government is fully involved in every firearm transfer and that the final All of these transfers will ultimately end up in their records database, but we have confirmed their existence through FOIA requests, leaks, and Congressional investigations. Johnston said in a statement to FOX News Digital.
FILE: An assault-style rifle, currently prohibited for sale in the state, is on display at Freddy Bear Sports in Tinley Park, Illinois, on Jan. 11, 2023. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Alan M. Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation, called the new rules “a continuation of Biden’s war on guns.”
“This is yet another attempt to circumvent Congress to enact new laws without Congressional approval,” he said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The president claims this will keep guns out of the hands of felons, and he knows it well. If history has taught us anything, it’s that criminals are legal “The gun control laws have never prevented criminals from obtaining firearms.”
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Mr. Gottlieb argued that the new rules “only place additional burdens on honest citizens who want to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”
The National Rifle Association said in a statement that it is “already working to use all available tools to stop this unlawful regulation.”
The National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry group, also warned that if the rule is finalized as written, it could be challenged in court.
File photo: An AR-15 style rifle is on display for sale at a gun store. (Reuters/Bing Guan)
Lawrence Keene, the foundation’s senior vice president and general counsel, said Thursday that the foundation is reviewing its regulations after the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives previously argued the agency was overstepping its legal authority. He said there was.
The new rules mark the Biden administration’s latest efforts to combat gun violence. President Biden said the measure would “keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and felons.”
“And my administration will continue to do everything possible to save lives. Congress needs to finish its job now and pass universal background checks legislation.” .
The rule, finalized this week, requires anyone who sells firearms primarily for profit to be federally licensed and subject to background checks, regardless of whether they sell on the internet, at gun shows or in brick-and-mortar stores. It is clear what must be done. – mortar stores, Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters.
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Biden administration officials said they are confident the rule, which has attracted more than 380,000 public comments, will withstand expected lawsuits from gun rights groups.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
