Federal Judge Blocks Biden ATF Rule Expanding Gun Background Checks
Harold Hutchison May 20, 2024
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Biden administration from fully
enforcing a gun background check rule Sunday night.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the rule covering background checks
for firearms purchases April 10, claiming it was based on bipartisan legislation
passed in the wake of a deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. United States
District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas issued a
temporary restraining order blocking the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives (ATF) from enforcing the rule against the state of Texas and
certain gun organizations until June 2.
The rule would dramatically expand the definition of when someone is "engaged in
business" as a gun dealer subject to background check regulations, thereby
expanding the number of who must submit to background checks.
"President Biden and his anti-gun administration have aggressively pursued an
agenda meant to harass, intimidate, and criminalize gun owners and dealers at
every turn," Gun Owners of America Senior Vice President Erich Pratt said. "This
ruling is a compelling rebuke of their tyrannical and unconstitutional actions
that purposely misinterpreted federal law to ensure their preferred policy
outcome."
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other Republican state attorneys general
sued to block the rule May 1.
BREAKING: We Just Secured A Temporary Restraining Order Against Biden
Administration, Stopping Unlawful ATF Rule from Taking Effect: I am relieved
that we were able to secure a restraining order that will prevent this
illegal rule from taking effect. The Biden Administration.
https://t.co/h8by98RVb2 - Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) May 20, 2024
"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 press release. "The
Biden Administration cannot unilaterally overturn Americans' constitutional
rights and nullify the Second Amendment."
The Biden administration has pushed multiple regulations of firearms since the
passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act passed in June 2022 following
the shooting at Ross Elementary School in Uvalde.
The states of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Idaho, Iowa,
Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South
Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming joined the suit,
according to a May 1 release by Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen of
Montana.
Attorney General Ken Paxton Secures Temporary Restraining Order Against
Biden Administration, Stopping Unlawful ATF Rule from Taking Effect:
https://t.co/lg0gSTNrVG - Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) May 20, 2024
The White House and the National Rifle Association did not immediately respond
to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
https://dailycaller.com/2024/05/20/federal-judge-blocks-biden-atf-rule-expanding-gun-background-checks/ 
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