(UnitedVoice.com) – President Joe Biden and his administration have mercilessly targeted gun laws since taking office. Over the summer, Attorney General Merrick Garland signed a notice of a proposed rule change from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The National Rifle Association (NRA) is now sounding the alarm about the proposed change.
Proposed Rule
The ATF’s proposal was titled the “Definition of Engaged in the Business as a Dealer in Firearms.” It would amend the ATF’s rules in order to implement the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), the firearms legislation that was passed with the support of Republicans and Democrats in 2022. The legislation was the most significant gun-control bill in almost three decades. The president was able to break through the partisan gridlock in Washington to get it through, but has still tried to implement even more regulations by using the law as his vessel to do that.
The proposed rule recommends incorporating the BSCA’s definition of “predominantly earn a profit.” The new rule also seeks to change the definitions of “engaged in the business” to clarify and expand when a person is a firearms dealer. It would change the rule to classify people as a dealer if they represent “to potential buyers or otherwise [demonstrate] a willingness and ability to purchase and sell additional firearms.”
The rule also incorporates the BSCA definition for “dealer,” which includes people who sell firearms for other types of profit, like services offered of personal property, expanding the definition beyond those who only receive cash.
NRA Responds to Proposal
The NRA attacked the Biden Administration and the ATF, saying the new rule could “unjustly criminalize” Americans. Randy Kozuch, the executive director of the NRA-ILA, told Fox News Digital that the proposal is another attempt by the POTUS’ ATF to “demolish [the] Second Amendment rights” of the American people by potentially criminalizing “Americans for engaging in lawful firearm transactions.”
Kozuch went on to say that the rule “blatantly disregards” the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision and claims that it “creates serious confusion among lawful gun owners” who regularly purchase and sell guns for different reasons, including self-defense. He said that if the president really wanted to crack down on crime in the US, then he would focus on ensuring the enforcement of laws already on the books and “reform [his] soft-on-crime policies” to go after real criminals, not “law-abiding American gun owners.”
More than 330,000 people and groups commented on the rule proposal while it was open for public comment.
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