The ATF doesn’t give us much to celebrate, but they have now. I’m mostly stoked about what’s happened, and the fact that Everytown is very upset about it just makes me like them even more. Especially the whole “engaged in the business” thing.
While the groundwork was laid by law in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the ATF took it way beyond what the law specified. They got stupid, as per usual, and that’s part of why these changes are happening.
But while Everytown made it clear they don’t like it, their buddies at The Trace–which is run by Everytown’s president, so it’s kind of the same thing–make it clear that they’re not alone.
At least one proposal drew immediate criticism from gun reform groups: the ATF’s revocation of a Biden administration rule intended to make more gun sellers obtain a federal license and conduct background checks on customers. The rule was born out of the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which required firearm sellers who “predominantly earn a profit” to get licensed. The act aimed to narrow the so-called gun show loophole by clarifying a longstanding ambiguity between private sales — which don’t require background checks — and sales by licensed dealers — which do.
The Biden administration’s rule specified the kinds of activities that might trigger the requirement for a license, including advertising or securing services like a credit card processor, regardless of whether the sales are online, at gun shows, or in brick-and-mortar shops.
Gun rights groups and the firearms industry opposed the rule, arguing it went beyond the act. Earlier this month, the Justice Department backed out of defending the rule in court, signaling the ATF’s change was forthcoming. It’s unclear how much of the rule will be revoked. Cekada said the ATF would be rescinding “certain provisions” to hew more closely to the law.
Emma Brown, the president of the gun reform group Giffords, said the changes could make it easier for sellers to deal in guns without background checks. “President Trump is doing everything he can to reward his gun industry CEO friends and donors,” Brown said in a statement.
Trump administration officials, including Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, framed the effort as a major shift in the ATF’s posture toward gun owners and the firearms industry. Representatives from the National Rifle Association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, and other gun rights and industry groups flanked Cekada and Blanche at the Wednesday news conference. “We are proposing to remove unnecessary hurdles that were standing in the way of law-abiding citizens and businesses,” Cekada said.
Yes, it must be the gun industry that has a fraction of the actual revenue these people seem to hint they do. It’s one thing to take issue with Raytheon or Lockheed Martin, which are in the arms industry, but are multi-billion-dollar corporations with annual revenues greater than the GDP of most nations.
Yeah, they make good money, but they’re not anywhere in the league of industries that can buy presidents.
People like Emma Brown or Everytown’s Greg Lickenbrock like to pretend this is about catering to big corporate interests, but they typically omit the fact that President Trump campaigned on gun rights and that gun rights advocates–individuals who support the right to keep and bear arms–voted for him in droves.
While these rules are good for gun stores and the firearm industry, they’re also good for the American people who buy guns. It’s also good for those of us who might feel the need to sell some from time to time.
It should, of course, be noted that The Trace doesn’t seem to have reached out to anyone at the ATF, the NSSF, the NRA, GOA, SAF, or any other gun rights organization, advocate, or journalist. They could reach out to Brown, of course, but no one else. No attempt to get a balanced take on this.
I’m not surprised, mind you, but since they keep being treated like an unbiased newsroom that just happens to focus on the gun debate, it’s important to remind literally everyone that they’re nothing of the sort.
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