(USNewsMag.com) – Gun rights groups are speaking out about a new Biden administration rule requiring background checks to be run by firearms dealers for buyers at gun shows and places outside brick-and-mortar stores.
The new rule, announced by Attorney General Merrick Garland on April 10th, aims to close a loophole for those not required to perform background checks on potential buyers. Garland said the new rule requires sellers to be federally licensed and conduct background checks if they sell firearms predominantly to earn a profit.
In a statement, President Joe Biden said the rule will help keep guns from “domestic abusers and felons.” He then called on Congress to pass universal background checks.
The new rule outlaws almost all private gun sales between individuals, according to the National Association for Gun Rights. In a statement, the group’s president, Dudley Brown, said the rule is “one step closer to Biden’s dream of Universal Gun Registration.”
The Second Amendment Institute said the rule “infringes upon the rights of law-abiding citizens” and is the ATF “going beyond their statutory authority for political purposes.”
The rule is the Biden administration “weaponizing every tool in their toolbox,” according to the Gun Owners of America’s Director of Federal Affairs Aidan Johnston.
The new rule is “a continuation of the Biden war on guns,” according to a statement from Second Amendment Foundation founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. He added the new rule adds “another burden” for citizens exercising their Second Amendment rights.
The National Rifle Association and an industry trade group, The National Shooting Sports Foundation, warned that if the rule is finalized as written there would be a court challenge. The National Shooting Sports Foundation senior vice president and general counsel said the organization was reviewing the new rule.
Though the rule drew more than 380,000 public comments, Biden administration officials said they are confident it would withstand anticipated lawsuits from gun rights groups.
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