The Biden administration has approved the broadest expansion of federal background checks in decades to regulate a fast-growing shadow market for guns sold online, at gun shows and through private sellers that have contributed to gun violence.
Under a rule released Thursday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives requires anyone “engaged in the business of selling firearms for profit” to register as a federally licensed gun dealer. This means that these sellers must conduct criminal and psychiatric background checks on potential buyers.
The new rule, which is likely to face legal challenges, could add up to 23,000 federal dealers to the 80,000 already regulated by ATF, an underfunded division of the Justice Department that is already struggling to monitor sellers.
The rule, which drew more than 380,000 public comments, will take effect in a month.
President Biden, who has been repeatedly blocked by congressional Republicans from enacting universal background checks, is using a provision of the sweeping 2022 bipartisan gun control law to achieve an elusive policy goal that enjoys broad public support: shutting down the so-called gun show -Gap.
Expanding the number of federal firearms licensees was one of several gun control measures included in an executive order Mr. Biden issued in March 2023 after several mass shootings.
Unlicensed private sellers in many states have been able to legally sell at gun shows, away from home and through online platforms without having to undergo the background check system created to prevent sales to children, criminals, domestic abusers and people with mental illness or drug addiction.
Four out of 10 illegal gun cases the office prosecuted from 2017 to 2021 involved such unregulated sales, including thousands of shadow dealers who used legal loopholes to evade background checks, according to an analysis of the gun trade released last week.
Officials said the new rule has a dual purpose: first, to bring legitimate sellers into the light of regulation and second, to deprive brokers who knowingly engage in criminal gun sales of the legal protection afforded by the vagaries of federal firearms laws.
Previously, dealers were only required to join the federal system if they made their living primarily from selling weapons. The hurdle is now much lower – the government only has to prove that it sold weapons to “mainly benefit from its actions.”
Failure to register is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Vice President Kamala Harris, tasked with leading the White House’s efforts on a range of politically charged election-year issues including gun policy, told reporters in a call Wednesday that the new regulation is “one of the biggest gaps” in the Federal background check closes system.
“This single loophole in our federal background check system has caused unimaginable pain and suffering,” said Ms. Harris, who also noted that gun violence is now the leading cause of death among children.
“I believe this new rule will spare countless families and communities the horror and suffering of gun violence for years to come,” she said.
Steven M. Dettelbach, the ATF director, struck a similar tone. “This is about protecting the lives of innocent, law-abiding Americans and the rule of law,” he said.
Mr. Dettelbach, the first permanent director approved by the Senate in nearly a decade, has overseen a series of more modest regulatory efforts, including an attempt to regulate deadly homemade firearms, so-called ghost guns.
The government believes that the new regulation is on solid ground as it is based on a newly adopted law and not on a novel interpretation of an existing law. However, it is likely that legal disputes will arise.
After a preliminary version of the rule was announced last year, Gun Owners of America, a group that opposes Mr. Biden’s gun control efforts, called the regulation a “back door” to universal background checks and promised that its “lawyers will prepare one.” .” Legal action.”
The announcement comes as the administration has stepped up efforts to find workarounds to keep policy promises to key constituencies like young voters and communities of color on issues like gun violence, where Mr. Biden’s priorities have no chance of prevailing to enforce Congress.
The Gun Control Act, one of the administration’s most significant policy achievements, has given the government several tools to combat a surge in illegal firearms.
Most important, officials say, is a new drug trafficking allegation that is being used in gun cases across the country. Thanks to improved background check regulations, the Justice Department was able to stop more than 600 illegal gun purchases by people under 21 and stop straw purchases by third-party buyers, which account for about 40 percent of illegal gun cases filed by federal prosecutors.
Many weapons used in crimes have been purchased through the shadow market, increasingly through online marketplaces such as Armslist, a Craigslist for firearms that connects buyers and sellers.
In October 2022, a 19-year-old with a history of mental health issues was denied the purchase of an AR-15 rifle from a federally licensed dealer near St. Louis. Soon after, he bought one on Armslist — this time without a background check — and used it to kill two people and injure several others.
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2024-04-11 11:59:14
www.nytimes.com
