Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton

A federal judge has blocked the Biden administration from enforcing a new rule that would require all firearms sellers to run background checks on buyers at gun shows or other places outside brick-and-mortar stores in Texas. The rule aims to close a loophole allowing unlicensed sellers to sell firearms without background checks.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, issued the ruling last Friday, preventing the federal government from implementing the rule in Texas and for several gun-rights groups, including Gun Owners of America (GOA). However, the order does not extend to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Utah, which were also part of the lawsuit , however, the judge found those plaintiffs had no standing in Texas, so the hold can not extend to their states.

“Plaintiffs understandably fear that these presumptions will trigger civil or criminal penalties for conduct deemed lawful just yesterday,” Kacsmaryk said in his ruling .

The Biden administration proposed the rule in August, following the passage of a significant anti-gun bill in 2022. The rule would expand the definition of those “engaged in the business” of selling firearms, requiring them to obtain a federal license and conduct background checks .

Twenty-six Republican attorneys general, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, filed lawsuits in federal courts across Arkansas, Florida and Texas to block the enforcement of the rule. They argued that the rule violates the Second Amendment and that Biden lacks the authority to implement it.

“I am relieved that we were able to secure a restraining order that will prevent this illegal rule from taking effect,” Paxton said in a statement. “The Biden Administration cannot unilaterally overturn Americans’ constitutional rights and nullify the Second Amendment.”

In his ruling, Kacsmaryk criticized the rule for setting presumptions about when a person intends to make a profit from selling firearms, arguing it places the burden of proof on the seller rather than the government.

“This is highly problematic,” he wrote, highlighting concerns over potential civil or criminal penalties .

“This is going to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and felons,” President Biden said in a statement when his administration unilaterally passed the rule without any Congressional input. “And my administration is going to continue to do everything we possibly can to save lives. Congress needs to finish the job and pass universal background checks legislation now.”

The temporary restraining order halting the rule is effective until June 2, pending further hearings. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Justice Department declined to comment on the ongoing litigation .

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

42 COMMENTS

  1. TTAG, could you give us guidance on the words/phrases we aren’t allowed to use?

    • For a start anything to do the po-lit-ical left, even historically.

      W0rdpress is more woke than a 3 week meth binge.

    • “TTAG, could you give us guidance on the words/phrases we aren’t allowed to use?”

      Highly doubtful, as that would give the spammers the tools they need to bypass moderation…

      • I didn’t actually expect it, I just get irritated at how the far left manages to sensor speech they don’t like. W0rdpissie is almost up against the Lennon (Vladimir
        not John) edge of the scale.

        • Well old shthead geoff’s slandering and libeling POTUS DJT made it past moderation and flowed freely just like slander and libel does on the evening news. Leave to geoff and his like minded pals on this forum to pretend to be gung ho 2A when they are by their own rhetoric nothing more than backdoor butt buddies for joe biden.

          TRUMP 2024.

          • Trump is no saint DebbieW. I worked for a corporation he had money in.
            What are your personal experiences with him besides what he tells you?
            With that, he is better then the other snake we could vote for.

  2. Breaking in Louisiana Legislature:
    SB 301 by Senator Miguez: Provides for transactions involving firearms and ammunition retailers.
    SB 301 stops the use merchant category codes (MCC).
    The bill will go back to the senate for approval of an amendment and then to the governor.

  3. Come on guys, why don’t you just be honest with the American public.

    Most of y’all don’t believe there is any such critter as a ‘prohibited person’ under the Constitution.

    Many folks on this list seem to be opposed to felony prohibitions, bans on those incapable of managing their affairs, age restrictions or any other regulations regarding the purchase of firearms.

    • A handful of politicians got shot under murky circumstances, BFD. That leaves us with one shooter stopped by armed students (who already kept guns in their dorms without incident) and two local cops at UT Austin. No other school/mass shootings, people had guns shipped to their door regularly, and private sales were legal nationwide. If you think that handful of incidents justified copy-pasting the gun laws of NS Germany here in 1968 (no thanks to Senator Dodd), you’re beyond hope.

      • Because the illegals let their government become totally corrupt.
        Remember to “Build Back Better ” you’ve got to tear it down first.

    • Miner49er,

      “Most of y’all don’t believe there is any such critter as a ‘prohibited person’ under the Constitution.”

      Sure we do. And righteously convicted inmates while in prison are at the top of the “prohibited person” list. Also near the top of the list: anyone who needs a custodian/guardian regardless of their age.

      Anyone else who has free and unfettered legal access to dangerous items such as chemicals, poisons, sharp objects, heavy objects, fast objects, pressurized gases, combustible substances, etc. should also have free and unfettered legal access to firearms.

      In case you are really obtuse, a person who is intent on maiming/murdering others can do so with wild success with any or all of those other items besides firearms. If we trust an individual with all of those other items, then we can trust them with firearms. If we do NOT trust an individual with firearms, then we do NOT trust that individual with all of those other items and that individual should be in prison.

    • “Many folks on this list seem to be opposed to … bans on those incapable of managing their affairs…”

      And yet you are poised to re-elect Biden, who clearly cannot manage anything, but will literally have his finger on the most powerful weapons ever devised by mankind.

      How in the world do you expect anyone to take you seriously about anything?

    • @Miner49er

      “Most of y’all don’t believe there is any such critter as a ‘prohibited person’ under the Constitution.”

      We believe in reality, not this made up fantasy you and the rest of your anti-gun left wing idiots want to create and believe in.

      In reality there isn’t “any such critter as a ‘prohibited person’ under the Constitution.”

      Miner49er, learn what context means.

      There are ‘prohibited persons’, under laws for which the application of those laws may or may not be ‘constitutional’ depending on the context – but there is no ‘prohibited persons’ under the constitution. But nope, there isn’t “any such critter as a ‘prohibited person’ under the Constitution”. There is no place in the Constitution where ‘the people’ is separated into two classes of ‘the people’ and ‘prohibited persons’, the separation only comes from laws for which the application of those laws may or may not be ‘constitutional’ depending on the context.

      “Many folks on this list seem to be opposed to felony prohibitions, bans on those incapable of managing their affairs, age restrictions or any other regulations regarding the purchase of firearms.”

      Did you have a brain aneurysm?

      • minor59iq…hunter biden is an example of a prohibited possessor and you are not far behind.

  4. A massive leak of Mexican military intelligence has exposed for the first time in two decades U.S. gun shops and smugglers tied to 78,000 firearms recovered south of the border – and which types of guns are being trafficked.

    Among them is Texan Craig Adlong. He pleaded guilty in 2020 for lying on firearm transaction forms, saying the guns were for his personal use. He purchased 95 semi-automatic rifles at Guns Unlimited in Katy, Texas, making seven visits over two months.

    Sixty-six of those firearms were recovered in Mexico, according to the leak.

    • You do know the Mexican government/military only tries to trace firearms that were made in or possibly made in America. They don’t check military weapons stolen fro the Mexican military nor foreign made military arms. This is how they have high trace numbers going to the USA.

    • What is most interesting about this story is HOW the utterly corrupt Mexican gov’t obtained (from the corrupt ATF’s JBT) personal information about businesses and US citizens. Pretty sure that is illegal and in similar circumstances would constitute “hacking”.

  5. They tried to block Bidens leakage but the cork flew out his ass and killed Commander.
    He was a good dog, only bit secret service agents and little girls that said “No”.

  6. RE: “This is going to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and felons,” President Biden said in a statement when his administration unilaterally passed the rule without any Congressional input. “And my administration is going to continue to do everything we possibly can to save lives. Congress needs to finish the job and pass universal background checks legislation now.”

    Jim Crow Gun Control democRat joe biden should start with his dopehead son who wasted over a million on a self serving lifestyle while average American families did without. And along with his deceased brother’s wife hunter biden left a handgun in a dumpster located in the vicinity of a school…and still joe biden thinks he has a leg to stand on…And almost as pathetic are the certain politically inept blowbags who insist on holding hands with Gun Control democRat joe to bash POTUS DJT. And if you say something about it to a blowbag it’s like talking to a stuck on stupid hunter biden dopehead.

  7. There is no “loophole”. People are allowed to sell private property without government permission! Whether in ones own house, in a parking lot, at a flea market or at a gun show…you are still selling your private property. The dumb ass media acts like this only happens at gun shows so therefore it is some sort of secretive anti-govt. rebellion led by the southern alliance of white males and it needs to be taken care immediately before the galaxy explodes. I’m sick of it….

    • Exactly! It’s not a loophole, it’s the law, and it was written that way on purpose!

  8. So what happens at a private gun show of a few hundred where the only people there are those that have a license to carry concealed and don’t get the NICS check? With the Biden/ATF way of doing things, this just might be the future of gun shows anyway. Particularly with the growing numbers of people getting that license.

    What do those sellers at the shows do when the buyer shows them their license?

  9. TTAG – reprinting a moronic CNN press release? “The rule aims to close a loophole allowing unlicensed sellers to sell firearms without background checks.”

    • They neglected to call out the corrupt old plagiarist for his anti-American policies.

  13. How Do We Own 50% Of The Worlds Guns But Not Lead The World In Gun Violence?

    “The United States makes up less than 5% of the global population, yet we Americans hold nearly 50% of civilian guns worldwide.

    When you dive into the statistics, past the fear and the headlines, you find that the U.S. doesn’t even crack the top 10 globally for gun violence or deaths per capita.

    …

    Most gun violence in our nation isn’t scattered randomly across the vast landscapes of America. No, it’s concentrated in just 2% of our counties. Over half of all our murders happen in these small pockets.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydzhoxFvD40

  17. More known now: ATF (hit squad) cut power to Bryan Malinowski’s house (to make it easier to murder him).

    Basically: Whats known so far, the ATF did not identify them self as law enforcement or announce they had a warrant and the Malinowski’s were not able to identify them as law enforcement in the darkened house …. basically and actually the ATF hit squad conducted an actual ‘criminal home invasion’ and Bryan acted to defend family and home against criminals. All the Malinowski’s saw was a bunch of unidentifiable armed people breaking into their home in the dark.

  19. “Federal Judge Blocks Biden Administration’s Gun Show Background Check Rule in Texas”

    ‘The music plays, and everyone must dance’.

Comments are closed.