Vice President Kamala Harris announced a new gun sale rule in a bid to crack down on the so-called "gun show loophole."
In a press briefing, Harris said the rule stipulates all gun dealers must now conduct background checks on the people who purchase firearms.
The Context
The Biden administration has pushed for universal background checks throughout his time in office.
As it stands, gun stores are required by law to conduct a background check for every gun sale. But dealers who sell weapons elsewhere, like through social media or via gun shows, have been able to sell guns without checking the details of those who purchase them.
The Biden administration has been working on the rule to change that since last spring, and it was issued under a provision of the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
As you doubtless know, federal law already requires dealers to do background checks anywhere they make a sale. Private party sales in most states do not. Yet news organizations reported this as something new.
I now see. They are going to use the new language defining gun dealers to include not only those making a living from resale (the old definition) to include those reselling at a profit. A true private party sale is still legal. Showing at a gun show and selling guns for more than you paid for them even 20 years ago would make you a gun dealer. One would likely present no problems, but a friend reports seeing tables at a gun show a few years back offering quite an assortment of guns with a "no background check" placard. This was almost certainly unlawful under the old definition as well as the new. This would be a bad way to become a test case challenging the law under Bruen, although I think it might have a winning result.
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