The National Rifle Association (NRA) recently blasted President Joe Biden’s administration for a proposal by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that it claims would “unjustly criminalize” American citizens for selling firearms and result in “serious confusion” for gun owners who buy and sell firearms.
NRA-ILA Executive Director Randy Kozuch told Fox News, “The Biden ATF’s proposed rule, ATF2022R-17, is just another attempt to demolish our Second Amendment rights, with the potential to unjustly criminalize everyday Americans for engaging in lawful firearm transactions.”
Kozuch added, “This rule blatantly disregards the recent NRA-backed Bruen ruling on the Second Amendment. It also creates serious confusion among lawful gun owners who buy and sell firearms legally for various purposes, from collecting to self-defense.”
Kozuch’s comments come in reaction to the ATF’s “Definition of ‘Engaged in the Business’ as a Dealer in Firearms proposal,” which is designated as ATF2022R-17. According to Fox News, the proposal would change the ATF’s current regulations and would implement part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that was passed and signed into law last year.
According to the ATF’s website, the proposal would change the definition of “dealer” to include anyone who “sells or offers for sale firearms, and also represents to potential buyers or otherwise demonstrates a willingness and ability to purchase and sell additional firearms.” The change would also involve the incorporation of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act’s definition of a “dealer” earning a profit from the sale of firearms, which would include other forms of profit besides cash.
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“If the Biden administration were truly committed to combating crime, they would focus on enforcing existing laws and reform their soft-on-crime policies, targeting actual criminals instead of law-abiding American gun owners,” Kozuch argued in his statement to Fox News.
According to Fox News, the ATF’s proposal was unveiled in August and provided a 90-day period for public comments that concluded on Dec. 7. The NRA, along with over 330,00 individuals and groups, posted public comments regarding the Biden administration’s proposal.
The NRA claimed that many of its members purchase and sell firearms for a variety of “lawful purposes.” The gun rights organization explained that the freedom of its members to buy and sell firearms would be “hindered” by the new rule, as it would “create serious confusion about what firearm transactions can be conducted without first acquiring an FFL.”
Leading a coalition of 26 state attorneys general in a letter to the ATF last week, Republican Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen also blasted the Biden administration’s proposal as a “shocking and unconstitutional attack” on the Second Amendment.
“The proposed rule is unconstitutional, violating the Second Amendment by making any individual who sells a firearm without a federal license liable to civil, administrative, or even criminal penalties,” the Montana attorney general’s office stated in a press release.
