A federal judge on Sunday blocked the Biden administration from fully implementing a new rule requiring gun dealers to obtain licenses and conduct background checks when selling firearms at gun shows and online. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Tex., restrained the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' (ATF) rule from being enforced in Texas or against members of several gun rights groups. Republican supporters of a landmark gun violence bill had opposed the administration's implementation of the law, Reuters and Roll Call report. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) negotiated the 2022 gun violence prevention law with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Despite this effort, 41 Senate Republicans ultimately supported his joint resolution to stop that rule. “Every time that they ask for bipartisanship, then if you provide bipartisan solutions, then they overreach and undermine any sort of good-faith negotiations that take place,” Cornyn said. Democrats touted the rule and the 2022 law as a shining example of bipartisanship and a major step toward making background checks on gun purchases universal.
Cornyn, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and others who helped negotiate the law’s passage said they felt burned by the White House’s decision to push the rule so much further than they expected. They say the administration took a small change in the language around who can be considered a gun dealer and used it to create a rule that massively expands who qualifies as a dealer and now must comply with federal rules including background checks. “They basically took a negotiated bill and they changed it and tried to change the law,” Cornyn said. The 2022 law included sweeping changes to mental health treatment, expanded state grants for school safety, violence prevention and other measures meant to reduce gun violence. However, the final bill lacked gun control provisions that Democrats initially hoped for, such as provisions included in House-passed bills to expand background checks and ban assault weapons and bump stocks. “This bill was considered a once-in-a-generation bill,” Tillis said. “They will be responsible for it waiting for another generation if they don’t honor the congressional intent on how they go about implementing the rules.”
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