Gun owners will need a federal license if they sell firearms to ‘predominantly earn a profit,’ but judge blocked new rule in TexasWhen someone wants to buy a gun and knows they won’t pass a federal background check due to a felony record, a mental health problem or some other reason, there are plenty of options. Particularly in Texas.
One of his guns was used in three separate crimes, including two aggravated assaults, according to authorities. Hackworth, 31, was sentenced in Dallas in November to 21 months in prison. His attorney declined to comment on the case.Many of the guns Raleigh Merriam Selby, Jack Don Sims and James Cary Bennett sold at North Texas gun shows without background checks ended up in the hands of drug dealers and someone convicted of “willful cruelty to a child,” court records show.
The term “engaged in the business” now means “a person who devotes time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business to predominantly earn a profit through the repetitive purchase and resale of firearms,” according to ATF guidance on the rule. The Gun Control Act of 1968 makes it a felony for anyone but a licensed dealer to “engage in the business” of dealing in firearms. What constitutes being in the gun business, however, was never clearly defined. Adding to the confusion is the exception in the law that allows private gun collectors and hobbyists to make occasional sales without a license.
Texas’ lawsuit called ATF’s new rule “layer upon layer of hopeless nonsense…which no ordinary person could hope to understand.” Gun control advocates say the crackdown on unlicensed private firearms sales is needed because gun shows, flea markets and online sales have altered the marketplace since the Gun Control Act was passed in 1968.“We are not at all surprised that the gun industry — and the attorneys general they’ve helped elect into power — are challenging this rule, which is a sensible measure designed to save more lives,” said Kris Brown, president of Brady: United Against Gun Violence, in a statement.