Biden Administration Approves Expansion of Background Checks on Gun Sales

The Biden administration approved the broadest expansion of federal background checks in decades in an attempt to regulate a rapidly growing parallel market for guns sold online that has contributed to gun violence.

Under a rule to be released Thursday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will require anyone “engaged in the business” of selling guns for profit, including at gun shows and through private sellers, to register as a federally licensed firearms dealer. distributor. That means those sellers must conduct mental health and criminal background checks on potential buyers.

The new regulation, which will likely face legal challenges, could add up to 23,000 federal dealers to the 80,000 already regulated by the ATF, an underfunded division of the Justice Department that already struggles to monitor sellers.

The rule, which generated more than 380,000 public comments, will go into effect in a month.

President Biden, who was repeatedly blocked by Republicans in Congress from enacting universal background checks, is exploiting a provision of the sweeping bipartisan gun control law passed in 2022 to achieve an elusive policy goal that enjoys broad support public: close the so-called gun show loophole.

Expanding the number of federal firearms license holders was one of several gun control measures included in an executive order Biden issued in March 2023 after several mass shootings.

Unlicensed private sellers in many states have been able to sell legally at gun shows, out of homes, and through online platforms without having to undergo the background check system created to prevent sales to children, felons, domestic abusers, and people with mental illnesses. or drug addictions.

Four in 10 illegal gun cases tracked by the bureau between 2017 and 2021 involved unregulated sales, including thousands of shadowy traffickers who used loopholes to evade background checks, according to an analysis of gun trafficking released last week. .

The purpose of the new rule is twofold, officials said: first, to bring legitimate sellers into the regulatory light and, second, to deprive brokers who knowingly traffic in criminal gun sales of a legal shield provided by the whims of federal firearms laws.

Previously, traffickers were required to join the federal system only if they made their primary living from gun sales. The bar is much lower now: the government only has to prove that they sold weapons to “predominantly make a profit” on their actions.

Failure to register carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

Vice President Kamala Harris, tapped to lead White House efforts on a range of politically charged election-year issues, including gun policy, told reporters in a phone call Wednesday that the new regulation addresses “one of the biggest gaps” in federal background checks. system.

“This single gap in our federal background check system has caused unimaginable pain and suffering,” said Harris, who also noted that gun violence was now the leading cause of death among children.

“In the years to come, I believe this new rule will spare countless families and communities the horror and anguish of gun violence,” he said.

Steven M. Dettelbach, director of the ATF, took a similar tone. “This is about protecting the lives of innocent, law-abiding Americans and the rule of law,” he said.

Dettelbach, the first permanent director approved by the Senate in nearly a decade, has overseen a succession of more modest regulatory measures, including an effort to regulate deadly homemade firearms known as ghost guns.

The administration believes the new regulation is on solid footing because it is based on a recently passed law, and not a novel interpretation of an existing one. However, it is likely to lead to legal fights.

After a draft version of the rule was announced last year, Gun Owners of America, a group that has opposed Biden’s gun control efforts, called the regulation a “backdoor” universal background check and promised that his “lawyers will be preparing a lawsuit.”

The announcement comes as the administration has stepped up efforts to find alternative solutions to deliver on policy promises to key groups, such as young voters and communities of color, on issues like gun violence, where Biden’s priorities have no chance. to be approved in a divided coalition. Congress.

The gun control bill, one of the administration’s most significant policy achievements, has provided the government with several tools to combat an onslaught of illegal firearms.

The most important, officials said, is a new drug trafficking charge that is beginning to be used in gun cases across the country. Enhanced background check provisions have allowed the Justice Department to stop more than 600 illegal gun purchases by people under the age of 21, and stop straw purchases by third-party buyers who account for approximately 40 percent of gun cases. illegal weapons presented by federal prosecutors.

Dozens of guns used in crimes have been purchased through the parallel market, increasingly through online marketplaces such as Armslist, a Craigslist for firearms that matches buyers and sellers.

In October 2022, a 19-year-old man with a history of mental health issues was denied an AR-15-style rifle at a federally licensed dealer near St. Louis. Shortly after, he purchased one through Armslist, this time without a background check, and then used it to kill two people and injure several more.