(RepublicanNews.org) – All gun sellers who sell firearms “predominantly to earn a profit” will need to seek registration as federally licensed arms traders under a new regulation rolled out by the White House on Thursday, April 11th. The new law, which will come into effect in 30 days, will effectively end the so-called “gun show loophole” long rallied against by gun control advocates.
Previously, those selling guns at gun shows or via the internet did not need to perform background checks on their customers, whereas those selling guns from e.g., a brick-and-mortar gun shop, did have to run checks. These checks, which will now need to be carried out by an estimated 20,000 additional firearms sellers, include checks into the buyer’s mental health and criminal records and are designed to keep firearms out of the hands of convicted felons and domestic abusers.
The new restriction comes not from a new piece of legislation passing through the chambers, but from the Biden administration making certain clarifications regarding the wording in the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act which related to individuals who sell firearms predominantly for profit. Following the introduction of this act, Pres. Biden then signed an executive order instructing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to address the matter of exactly who this ruling would apply to. The DOJ’s amendments clarified that the ruling applies to gun sellers operating online or at gun shows but left a carve-out for people such as hobbyists wishing to sell guns from their own personal collection.
On announcing the adjusted ruling, Pres. Biden said that he had spent many hours meeting with people whose loved ones had been killed with a firearm. He said that by requiring more gun sellers to run background checks, the regulation would help to prevent ex-convicts and domestic abusers from purchasing weapons, adding that he and his administration would do what they could to “save lives”.
The move marks the largest addition of background checks for the purchase of firearms since the introduction of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act in 1993, which mandated background checks to be carried out by all federally licensed arms dealers before completing a sale, and also installed a five-day waiting period before a person could walk away with their new firearm.
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