The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) recently unveiled its plan to broaden background check requirements for gun dealers. This effort is aimed at sealing gaps for gun shows and online sales while concurrently enlarging the definition for firearm dealers — all which are now required to be licensed.
The rules addressing these changes are a fulfilment of provisions in the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA). They redefine when a person is “engaged in the business” of selling firearms, additionally altering corresponding regulatory definitions to encompass any individual who deals firearms primarily for profit.
Gun dealers previously exempted from seeking federal licensing will now be subjected to regulations — regulations that necessitate the conduct of background checks on potential firearm purchasers. Private sales between family members and the “liquidation of a personal collection without restocking” are however not affected, as the regulations do not extend to creating universal background checks.
The BSCA, which the new rules have been derived from, has also bolstered the background check review procedure through the inclusion of a review of mental health records for juveniles. The legislation additionally prohibits individuals with domestic violence misdemeanors from buying or possessing a weapon for a minimum of five years after a conviction.
The White House released a press statement praising these new regulations as instrumental in closing the loopholes that previously allowed dangerous individuals to evade background examinations when buying a firearm. It referenced the 1999 Columbine school shooting, as well as 2012 and 2019 shootings in Wisconsin and Texas, where the perpetrators acquired weapons from unlicensed sellers without undergoing background checks now mandatory under the new rules.
Vice-President Kamala Harris commended the background check system as an effective tool in keeping weapons out of the hands of “domestic abusers and other violent criminals,” expressing her admiration for the Biden administration’s success where previous efforts were unsuccessful.
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) vowed to challenge these new rules, with a spokesperson terming them “lawless and unconstitutional.” Cornyn implicated the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) of revising the legislation it was said to implement, and of breaching the separation of powers. He concluded that any further expansion of background checks must go through Congress.