By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
President Joe Biden’s new rule expanding background checks for gun purchases—ostensibly adopted to close the so-called “gun show loophole” and make it tougher to conduct online sales—is being met with criticism on Capitol Hill and in the firearms community.
According to Axios.com, Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina will introduce a “resolution of disapproval” under the Congressional Review Act to derail Biden’s new rule.
At the same time, officials with the Second Amendment Foundation have ripped the rule, scheduled to take effect in 30 days, as another manifestation of the president’s career-long war on guns.
“This is a continuation of the Biden war on guns,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb. “It is another attempt to get around Congress to make new laws without congressional approval.”
He was joined in his criticism by SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut, “Even more troublesome is the potential for abuse by Biden’s weaponized ATF against private citizens legally selling their personal firearms collections or family heirlooms.”
The White House announced Biden’s new rule Thursday. In the statement, the White House acknowledged, “the Biden-Harris Administration is moving as close as possible to universal background checks without additional legislation.” While Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are asking Congress to adopt so-called “universal background checks,” SAF’s Gottlieb dismissed the move as rhetoric.
“The president is claiming this will keep guns out of the hands of felons, and he knows better,” Gottlieb said. “If history has taught us anything, it would be that criminals do not obtain the guns they use through legitimate channels, and that gun control laws have never prevented criminals from obtaining a firearm. All this rule will accomplish is to place yet another burden on honest citizens wanting to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”
Because criminals get their guns through illicit means, they do not bother with background checks, waiting periods or other bureaucratic inconveniences, such as obtaining permits to purchase from local police or sheriffs’ departments.
According to The Guardian, the new rule comes after “a three-month consultation period that attracted almost 388,000 comments” to the website of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The Guardian report said the White House estimates that 22 percent of guns owned by UI.S. citizens were acquired without background checks. The administration estimates that “about 23,000 more individuals” would need to get dealer licenses.
