John Cornyn
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) - Shutterstock

It should be more than obvious that the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that credulous GOP Senator John Cornyn shepherded into law along with Connecticut’s Chris Murphy was nothing but a stalking horse for expanding the federal government’s regulation of firearms.

Since it was signed into law, the Biden Administration has interpreted the law’s language in the widest possible ways to institute a de facto 10-day waiting period on gun sales to adults under 21 years of age, strong-arm states into enacting red flag confiscation laws, and yank federal funds from schools with hunting safety and archery programs.

All the while, the slack-jawed Texas Senator has expressed outrage and written some very strongly-worded letters to complain about the ways the most anti-gun administration in American history is implementing the gun control law he made possible.

The latest abuse of the BSCA, announced today by the White House, is new ATF rulemaking that would greatly expand the number of people who will need a Federal Firearms License to sell their guns.

The proposed rule lays out a set of criteria for who will be considered by ATF to be “engaged in the business” of selling firearms in order to, as the Gun Control Industry likes to say, close the mythical gun show loophole. The rule will bring us another step closer to “universal” background checks.

This is from the White House’s press release . . .

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. For example, under the proposed rule, a person would be presumed to be required to become a licensed dealer and run background checks if they meet one or more of the following criteria:

      • Offer for sale any number of firearms and also represents to potential buyers that they are willing and able to purchase and sell them additional firearms;
      • Repetitively offer for sale firearms within 30 days after they were purchased;
      • Repetitively offer for sale firearms that are like new in their original packaging;
      • Repetitively offer for sale multiple firearms of the same make and model; or
      • As a formerly federally-licensed firearms dealer, sell firearms that were in the business inventory and not transferred to a personal collection at least a year before the sale, addressing the so-called “fire sale loophole.”

The proposed rule would also clarify that, for civil or administrative actions, an individual would be presumed to have the intent to “predominantly earn a profit”—one of the elements of engaging in the business of dealing firearms—if the person engages in activities such as:

      • Creating a website or making business cards to advertise or market a firearms business;
      • Maintaining records to document and track profits and losses from firearms purchases or sales; or
      • Purchasing business insurance or renting space at a gun show.

The proposed rule would make clear that there is no “gun show loophole” or “internet loophole” in federal law. Dealers who engage in the business of selling guns are required to obtain a license and run background checks no matter where they engage in the business of buying and selling firearms. That include at gun shows and over the Internet.

When If the new law is adopted by ATF after the 90-day comment period, anyone who runs afoul of the regulatory agency’s undoubtedly arbitrary and capricious application of the new standards will face fines of up to $250,000, jail time of as much as five years in a federal pen, or both.

We’re positive Senator Cornyn and the other GOP Senators who voted for the BSCA following the Uvalde shooting will once again ball up their fists and express outrage at the administration twisting the law’s language. They may even send more letters to Biden and ATF jefe Steve Dettelbach complaining that this really isn’t what Congress intended when they voted on the law (that none of them actually read).

In other words, it will be lots of sound and fury signifying nothing, all aided and abetted by the wonderfully bipartisan work of the senior Senator from the Lone Star State. He must be so proud.

 

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87 COMMENTS

  1. Ok. So every single human in this country then goes out and becomes an FFL.

    This gives government authority to go into any home anywhere in this country at any time and it can’t be questioned.

    Our Constitution prohibits this.

  2. I have met the enemy…and he is us.

    With “friends” like Cornyn who needs enemas.

    • And Cornyn is angry he was used like a cheap whore?

      Welcome to p0litics.

      Was he asleep during the sessions?

      • I called Cornyn’s office and chewed them out over his working with gun control idiots to pass anti gun legislation. Weeks later i get this letter stating how he is pro second amendment and listing how much he has done for us. I replied back with a copy of his b s letter and told them, ” don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining. He is a disgrace to Texas !

  3. So what’s “repeatedly?”

    More “I know it when I see it” tyranny-on-a-whim I suppose.

  4. So, if you sell a gun for more that $600 and don’t issue the buyer a 1099 form, the IRS comes for you. If you do issue the buyer a 1099 the ATF comes for you.
    I get it… it’s a feature, not a bug….

    • air – one of the other ‘features’ of this proposed ‘rule’ says that if you profit from the sale of the $600 gun that you paid $149.99 (sale price) for back in the day then you are obviously ‘in the business’. Never mind inflation.

    • Expect a show of force when they come for you.

      How can the IRS spend all of that? You guessed it, the bill says a whopping $45.6 billion will be for enforcement, and make no mistake, enforcement is the main directive from Democrats to the IRS.
      https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2022/08/08/irs-has-guns-inflation-reduction-act-will-unleash-tough-irs-on-taxes/?sh=2454b0e75d20

      Criminal investigators at agencies like the USDA, the Small Business Administration and NASA can carry firearms.

      The USDA first gained the permanent ability to arm its criminal investigators in 1981. Twenty-five other federal agencies gained that permanent ability in 2002 as result of the Security Act.

      Surprisingly, Congress does not know how many and what type of weapons the agencies have been stockpiling, according to Republican Rep. Chris Stewart of Utah.

      [In 2013], the EPA launched a criminal investigation into an Alaskan gold mine for potential violations of the Clean Water Act. They sent 10 officers (five from the EPA OIG who carried shotguns) in bulletproof vests, according to a review of the incident by the state of Alaska.
      https://www.wtkr.com/2014/09/26/why-did-the-usda-buy-submachine-guns

  5. Looks like buying guns at gun shows with no paperwork is now going to be a thing of the past and it was long overdue. Hopefully the ATF will swoop down on gun runners selling at flea markets as well.

    • “Looks like buying guns at gun shows with no paperwork is now going to be a thing of the past …”

      Looks like it’s been a thing of the past for a long time now. You know that, but you’re a liar.

      “Hopefully the ATF will swoop down …”

      Ah, yes, of course — dacian has always been in favor of government force and overreach. “Swoop down” is an apt description for the actions of a vulture.

    • Traitor, there is no historical precedent for this. We’ll defeat it in court, easily. Government has no business in my private property…

      • Hey dumbassian, I’ll make the same offer to you that I made to my ” favorite ” BIL… a thousand dollar bet at an actual gun show. Find a dealer that will sell you a handgun or ” assault weapon “, whatever the eff that is, or ANY firearm not being carried singly by a private attendee ( there were two at this particular show with old pre- WW2 junk) at the show premises, and right before the actual transfer you can renege on the sale and I’ll hand you a stack of crisp Ben Franklins. After the third refusal on premises, you hand ME a stack of crisp 100s…. are your balls (and wallet) as big as your piehole?

        • Crickets… but hey, extra points for managing to compose a proper sentence with ” dacian ” and ” balls ” in it.
          I’ve been waiting on responses from the little yapper for YEARS now.

        • “Find a dealer.. “

          We’re not talking about dealers, you don’t even have to leave the parking lot to find a good deal, no paperwork and the only qualification… cash.

  6. IF corny had the least bit of integrity he would resign immediately. OTOH if he did that he might very will go to ‘work’ for one of the ‘gun control’ outfits and remove all doubt as to his ‘intentions’.

  8. I gift guns…then later they may gift me money….no firearm sale. I do not gift guns to people I do not know.

  9. loop holes, loop holes….how about closing the loop hole that let’s a deranged dementia ridden old man pretend he’s a president?

  11. Offer for sale any number of firearms and also represents to potential buyers that they are willing and able to purchase and sell them additional firearms;

    Looks to me like if I sell ONE gun to my neighbor and mention that I have at least ONE more gun that I’m willing to sell OR that I’m looking for ONE gun to purchase, then I need an FFL (it says ANY number, that could be one, ten, one hundred or whatever, right?)…. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, how about if I gift the gun but charge a “delivery fee” does that make me the USPS or FedEx? We have GOT to get this clown show the fuck out of DC… Including Cornyn, McConnell and their RINO cohorts in the House and Senate…

  13. The NSSF still gives John Cornyn an A-grade and all the other RINOs responsible for writing and pushing through last year’s Bi-partisan Safer Communities Act. They said they didn’t include that bill in their calculations for their legislative report cards. That’s because they supported it and that’s why they voted for it.

    The National Shooting Sports Foundation is no better than the Negotiating our Rights Away NRA.

    • NSSF blew it with me when that organization said they partnered with the BATFE.
      If you lay with dogs you’ll get fleas.

      • NSSF proved themselves as shitweasels when promoting the likes of Canterbury and Dettlebach and Chipman. eff them.

  16. “Maintaining records to document and track profits and losses from firearms purchases or sales;”

    So if I sell a gun and then report my profit or loss for the sale of personal property on my yearly personal income taxes… the way I’m required by law to do… am I then “maintaining records to document and track profits and losses”?

    If I maintain a GunsAmerica account, which automatically keeps track of my sales and payments through GunsAmerica, is that “maintaining records to document profits and losses”?

    • DaveP.

      I was coming to type a similar comment.

      Of course that proposed rule is classic intentional government Catch-22 in action.

      (Government mandates one law and then later mandates another law which forces you into an ugly situation whereby following one law forces you to violate the other law and vice versa.)

    • “If I maintain a GunsAmerica account, which automatically keeps track of my sales and payments through GunsAmerica, is that “maintaining records to document profits and losses”?”

      No, not if its GunsAmerica doing it their selves automatically. Even though you can view it, that’s their ‘automatic’ record keeping and not yours. Tell them to stop doing that and remove those records, because even though its not actually your record keeping the ATF could get it with a warrant and use it in some way.

    • “So if I sell a gun and then report my profit or loss for the sale of personal property on my yearly personal income taxes… the way I’m required by law to do… am I then ‘maintaining records to document and track profits and losses’?

      No.

      Filing your income tax return, your income tax record, is not ‘profits and losses’ record keeping, its officially a record of taxes owed, filing, or taxes not owed and not a personally maintained record keeping of ‘profits and losses’.

      “So if I sell a gun and then report my profit or loss for the sale of personal property on my yearly personal income taxes… the way I’m required by law to do”

      You are not actually required to do that for A gun if its your personal firearm and you are not doing it as a business or in volume and its only occasional. There is no IRS requirement that requires an occasional seller of personal property that is not a real property ‘capital asset’ (e.g. home, land, etc…) or on the IRS list of ‘taxable’ collectables (firearms are not on the list) to report any money made from sales of a personal property item (e.g. firearm) if you are not doing it as a business or in volume or very frequently.

  17. Remember when looking at gun ownership per Capita Texas was not even if the top half of US states. Texas talks a big game – but they are not our friends. When else would senator from that state be one of the main reason why I in a different state will now face issues selling a used gun (with all the original packaging) to get as much value as possible in the sale.

  18. If you read the non-law regulation it’s funny because it PRESUMES you are selling for profit and basically you have to prove that you are not. Absurd.

  19. The RINOs that voted for this stupidity need to fix it. Threaten to defund the ATF and clip their wings, then follow through if they don’t start behaving.

    • AL – no more ‘threats’ they flat out need to defund the bats yesterday. As to the rinos (they don’t deserve caps as that is a sign of respect) ‘fixing’ the problem, probably not gonna happen.

  20. Cornyn is a p o s and a disgrace to Texas, i have called and e mailed his office to let him know. Now we need a good candidate to primary the traitor.

    • @Ed Schrade- regarding your emails to our slack jawed senator, do you get the same boiler-plate email replies like I get. Totally worthless comms with his office. Calling only gets you stuck talking to a voice mail machine. Rarely have I spoken to a staffer when I’ve called.

      I’m with you, it’s time for some new CONSERVATIVE blood from Texas in the US Senate.

    • Send them a message in a medium they’ll understand. By Telegram transmitted in Morse code.

  21. Obviously, the ATF is never going to know what willingness you expressed during a transaction from, say, financial records. They’d have to have someone there. In other words, they’re going to have UCs and CIs at gun shows and trolling online marketplaces, trying to induce someone to “express a willingness” to sell them additional firearms.

    So if you’re selling a piece from your collection, and the buyer asks something about you selling any future acquisitions, you know you’re dealing with an ATF plant.

  22. ‘the slack-jawed Texas Senator’

    Couldn’t have said it better Mr. Zimmerman. Yep, he’ll raise all kind of cain pretending to support the 2A community. He doesn’t.

    Sen. Cornyn, the best thing you can do is- 1) quit supporting ANY kind of anti-gun legislation; 2) work to repeal this stupid Bipartisan Safer Communities Act that you helped pass; 3) resign or do not run for office again.

    I’m afraid that Cornyn who is joined at the hip to McConnell will assume the senate minority leader job if McConnell steps down. That’s the last thing we need in the senate. I will be working to make sure Cornyn is either primaried out or voted out of office. I am so disappointed in him…

  23. So soon you’ll have to be an FfL to sell a gun, then an ffl to buy a gun, and then they’ll do away with FFLs

    • Already there, they are both requiring everyone to be an FFL to sell, so you have to do background checks, while simultaneously cracking down on FFLs, especially the “kitchen table” FFLs. I would imagine they also are less likely to grant a license if you are just going to be selling online or from your house.

      You must get a license to sell pretty much any amount of guns or you are a rogue dealer breaking the law, also no you can’t get a license to sell guns legally, or maybe yes, here is a license, now the ATF is going to raid your house.

  24. What if this is ALL a ruse? What if the REAL bad guys are the alleged “conservatives”? What if THEY are the Kommie/fascio/soshullists AND the left-wing “oppressors” are actually paid actors working a Con to steer us toward putting those “Conservatives” in EVERY facet of control in our country…

  25. This is a Cornyn groundhog day. Before his last re-election he helped pass anti-gun laws then started ranting about the results so he was successfully re-elected.

    The problem is this didn’t just affect Texas.

  26. Funny how POTG always talk about how guns are supposed to be the answer to tyrannical gov, but the gov has been tyrannical for a very long time and we just keep voting harder. Even our elected reps – and if we’re honest even the president- has no real power over the unelected unaccountable bureaucracy.

  27. Congress is in the not completing FY2024 budget (or continuing resolution). SOME of the mandatory items to include:
    – Defund and close the DC Fed courts – no basic for a CITY to have Fed court exists in the Constitution
    – Repeal the NFA
    – Abolish the ATF, Repeal the GCA of 1968
    – Fox the Fed budget at 2003 level with mandatory headcount reduction of 10% in all agencies and depts (exempt DOD).

    SHUT IT DOWN!

  28. Funny because the ATF has often refused to give people an FFL because they weren’t doing enough business (i.e. people who wanted it so they could order to their door instead of having to use another ffl)

    • Standard gun control tactic. Handguns should be banned because they’re concealable, long guns should be banned because they’re powerful. Bullets that expand or deform create more tissue damage and are therefore “cop killer” bullets. Bullets that don’t expand or deform penetrate armor better and are thus “cop killer” bullets. Lead bullets should be banned as toxic, non-lead bullets should be banned as armor-piercing. Concealed carry should be banned because cops can’t see if you’re armed, open carry should be banned because it alarms civilians.

  31. Soooo… if you look at it closely, you will find the ATF has actually created several ‘loop holes’.

  33. “Maintaining records to document and track profits and losses from firearms purchases or sales.”

    So keeping records is now a crime, unless you have an FFL?
    The problem is, under a new IRS rule, online sales such as eBay or Gunbroker are considered taxable income unless you can prove you’re just doing “online garage sales” and selling things at a loss.
    This means the IRS requires you to keep records of internet sales, or they’ll penalize you by taxing all your online sales as if it’s “income.”
    But the ATF says if you keep records, they’ll arrest you for not having an FFL.

    So you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
    The ATF says keeping records is a crime.
    The IRS requires you to keep records of internet sales (or they’ll tax you to the max).
    The ATF says keeping records is a crime.

    • Don’t forget to give the firearm buyer a W9 for transactions in excess of $600 so that they can issue you a 1099 for your taxes.

  35. Fack everyone that voted yes on this bill, they should exiled. It’s also not smart to be selling guns right now with the rate of ffl revocations!

  38. dont under estimate that he did it on purpose. the RINO’s are strong in numbers and heavy on fooling the american public. He has now been unmasked and his state should vote him OUT!

  39. Laws like this is how they will regulate the Second Amendment out of existence. This ‘Death by a thousand cuts’ strategy has been implemented by the anti-gun crowd starting with the NFA in 1934 to end private ownerships of firearms in America. One step at a time, mostly in the form of bureaucratic regulations and panic laws passed by Congress after a tragedy involving a gun. It has no effect on limiting ‘gun crimes’. Criminals have been using guns illegally before and after the NFA and will continue to do so. Gun control laws only affect law-abiding citizens and the anti-gun crowd is fully aware of that. That is their end-game.

  40. Another GIFT from the “Safer Communities Act”?

    President Joe Biden’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) announced a proposed rule Thursday requiring universal background checks, which Congress has rejected for more than 20 years.

    On August 2, 2023, Breitbart News reported Gun Owners of America’s (GOA) warning that Biden was working behind the scenes to use executive action to secure universal background checks.

    GOA’s warning came the same day Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) urged the Biden Administration to act under the auspices of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to “issue and [make] effective” more regulations on gun sales.

    On August 5, 2023, Breitbart News noted that Gabby Giffords’ gun control group, Giffords, was cheering the anticipated executive action for universal background checks.

    On Thursday, the Department of Justice/ATF announced the rule is being published for public comment.

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