In May, meanwhile, another federal judge ruled that the Biden-Harris administration could not enforce a gun sale rule in Texas that required firearms dealers to conduct background checks on gun show buyers or other places outside of their brick-and-mortar locations.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, another Trump appointee, issued a ruling just before a new regulation was set to take effect. His order blocks the federal government from enforcing the rule against several gun-rights groups, including Gun Owners of America. However, the ruling does not apply to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Utah, which are also parties to the lawsuit.
“Plaintiffs understandably fear that these presumptions will trigger civil or criminal penalties for conduct deemed lawful just yesterday,” Kacsmaryk wrote in his decision.
Earlier that month, twenty-six Republican attorneys general filed lawsuits in federal courts in Arkansas, Florida, and Texas to prevent the enforcement of a new rule. The plaintiffs claim that the rule infringes upon the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and argue that President Joe Biden lacks the authority to implement it.
The Associated Press added:
The new requirement is the Biden administration’s latest effort to curtail gun violence and aims to close a loophole that has allowed unlicensed dealers to sell tens of thousands of guns every year without checking that the potential buyer is not legally prohibited from having a firearm.
Kacsmaryk wrote that the rule sets presumptions about when a person intends to make a profit and whether a seller is “engaged in the business.” He said this is “highly problematic” for multiple reasons, including that it forces the firearm seller to prove innocence rather than the government to prove guilt.
“This ruling is a compelling rebuke of their tyrannical and unconstitutional actions that purposely misinterpreted federal law to ensure their preferred policy outcome,” Gun Owners of America senior vice president Erich Pratt noted in a Monday statement following the ruling.