“The government hopes to ensure that they are fully involved in every firearm transfer, and” have established the gun registry of all gun owners. We would do well to remember the not so distant use of a gun registry in Nazi Germany.
New rule is seen as step toward the Biden administration’s goal of universal background checks.
The U.S. Attorney General says the change, required by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act enacted June 25, 2022, will save lives by requiring anyone who “devotes time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business or predominately earns a profit through the repetitive purchase and sale of firearms” to obtain a Federal Firearms License.
“Under this regulation, it will not matter if guns are sold on the internet at a gun show or at a brick-and-mortar store: if you sell guns predominately to earn a profit, you must be licensed, and you must conduct background checks,” Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote in a statement on the ATF website.
Critics of the change say the rule will effectively end private transactions, possibly including the inheritance of firearms within families.
According to the ATF statement, President Joe Biden issued Executive Order 14092 on March 14, 2023, which directed Mr. Garland to clarify the definition of who is engaged in the business of dealing in firearms. The plan immediately drew criticism from gun rights activists.
By Michael Clements
