The Biden administration’s proposed rule, which would have required gun sellers to obtain licenses and perform background checks when selling firearms at gun fairs and online, was partially blocked by a federal judge on Sunday.
Amarillo-based U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk temporarily blocked the Republican-led Texas government from enforcing the rule of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives against members of various gun rights organizations.
“I am relieved that we were able to secure a restraining order that will prevent this illegal rule from taking effect,” Texas Attorney General Paxton, a Republican, stated.
A request for comment was not answered by the U.S. Department of Justice, which is representing the rule in court.
The Republican former president Donald Trump’s appointment, Kacsmaryk, made his decision prior to the rule’s implementation on Monday in response to a lawsuit filed by Texas, proponents of gun rights, and three other states with Republican governors.
The lawsuit contested a rule that Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration stated would close the “gun show loophole,” which would have an impact on over 23,000 unlicensed dealers and tens of thousands of gun sales yearly. The rule was finalized last month.
The law requires gun dealers to do background checks on prospective customers, just like it does for gun stores. This includes gun dealers who sell firearms at gun shows, other events, and online.
In his opinion, Kacsmaryk concurred with the plaintiffs that the sections of the rule were in conflict with the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a bill passed in 2022 that expanded the list of gun vendors who needed licenses.
He criticized the rule for not granting a statutory exception from the licensing requirement for those who purchase or sell firearms for a “personal collection” to those who do so for the purpose of personal protection.
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This, according to Kacsmaryk, led to “the absurdity that the majority of gun owners have no safe harbor at all under the statute’s safe harbor provision.”
Kacsmaryk’s injunction applies to gun rights organizations like Gun Owners of America, which has two million members.
However, the judge determined that Utah, Louisiana, and Mississippi had not proven they had standing to contest the rule, and he refused to stop its implementation in their states. His order is still in force until June 2 while more legal action is taken.
Since Kacsmaryk is the only sitting judge in Amarillo, conservative litigants opposing federal government actions under Biden’s administration have found favor with his courthouse.
He has made numerous decisions in their favor; the most notable of these occurred when Kacsmaryk halted the approval of the abortion medication mifepristone last year. While it reviews the case, the U.S. Supreme Court has permitted the medication to stay on sale.
