The Biden administration has proposed a rule that would essentially classify any American who sells guns as a firearms dealer, thereby tightening gun control measures in the country.
At present, individuals can engage in selling firearms for profit without having to be a registered firearm dealer. The new rules would classify gun sales under business activities and require that individuals engaged in it get a license as well as undertake background checks.
“Specifically, the proposed rule, if finalized, would clarify that an individual would be presumed to be ‘engaged in the business’ of dealing in firearms—and therefore be required to become a licensed firearms dealer and run background checks—if they meet certain conditions,” said an Aug. 31 White House statement.
The rules would be applicable if the individual offers for sale any firearms, repetitively offers for sale firearms within 30 days after being purchased or if the firearms were new in their original packaging or if they sell multiple firearms of the same make and model.
The White House added that a formerly federally-licensed firearms dealer would also come under the categorization if they “sell firearms that were in the business inventory and not transferred to a personal collection at least a year before the sale.”
Based on the proposal, the definition of a “firearms dealer” is said to undergo changes.
“An increasing number of individuals engaged in the business of selling firearms for profit have chosen not to register as federal firearms licensees, as required by law,” said the DOJ’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Director Steven Dettelbach.
“Instead, they have sought to make money through the off-book, illicit sale of firearms. These activities undermine the law, endanger public safety, create significant burdens on law enforcement, and are unfair to the many licensed dealers who make considerable efforts to follow the law.
“The Gun Control Act’s exceptions to the license requirement exist to allow all law-abiding Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights—not to facilitate the intentional evasion of the background-check system. This new proposed rule would clarify the circumstances in which a person is ‘engaged in the business’ of dealing in firearms, and thus required to obtain a license and follow the laws Congress has established for firearms dealers.”
