“We have a duty to remember and a duty to bear witness to what happened here. We must do better,” Vice President Kamala Harris said earlier this year during a Florida visit, remembering the victims of a 2018 mass shooting at a Florida high school where a gunman killed 17 people and pushing for states to strengthen laws on seizing firearms from high-risk people. Vice President Kamala Harris is taking a more front-and-center role in addressing gun violence, as it has been determined that this is a key issue for young voters in 2024. Gun control has been named as one of the most important issues for the Biden administration.
Politicians on gun control
Republicans and Democrats have long been fighting over gun control, but things have gotten even more intense between the parties since the Biden administration made gun control one of the key issues to fix amid high numbers of mass shootings across the country. Although Democrats believed that gun violence would emerge as one of the presidential campaign focus topics, illegal immigration still catches the attention of the public the most as the presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump continuously attacks President Joe Biden and the federal government for the illegal immigration chaos. Republicans, meanwhile, are seeking fewer restrictions on guns.
Federal judge block new Biden admin rule
On Sunday, a U.S. federal judge issued a temporary order preventing the Biden administration from putting a new regulation into full effect. This rule would have required gun sellers at gun shows and online to be licensed and to perform background checks on buyers. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of Amarillo made this decision, specifically blocking the rule in Texas, and for members of certain gun rights groups.
Texas AG Paxton celebrates the win
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is a member of the Republican Party, praised this decision as a victory. This legal battle marks yet another legal confrontation between Texas and the Biden administration over the past few months. Attorney General Paxton has been at the forefront of the legal challenge against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), arguing that their new rule unjustly infringes on Americans’ constitutional rights to buy and sell firearms privately. The U.S. Department of Justice, on the other hand, has been defending the rule in court.
“I am relieved that we were able to secure a restraining order that will prevent this illegal rule from taking effect,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The Biden Administration cannot unilaterally overturn Americans’ constitutional rights and nullify the Second Amendment.”
The rule stopped a day before going into effect
Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump, made his decision before the rule was set to start on Monday. This ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by Texas, alongside gun rights advocates and three other states led by Republicans. They were challenging a new rule that had been finalized last month by President Joe Biden’s administration.
The Biden administration argued that the rule would impact over 23,000 unlicensed dealers and many gun sales each year by eliminating the “gun show loophole.” According to the new rule, those selling firearms at gun shows, other locations, and online would have to follow the same background check requirements as traditional gun stores.
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The ruling
In his decision, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk sided with the plaintiffs, arguing that the provisions of the rule contradicted the text of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act passed in 2022. This law expanded the types of gun sellers who must obtain licenses. Kacsmaryk criticized the rule for not offering an exemption to those who purchase or sell firearms for personal protection, which should be allowed under the law’s exemption for those who buy or sell guns as part of a “personal collection.”
Kacsmaryk said that resulted in “the absurdity that the statute’s safe harbor provision provides no safe harbor at all for the majority of gun owners.” Gun rights groups whose members are covered by Kacsmaryk’s order include the Gun Owners of America, which boasts 2 million members.
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However, the judge determined that Louisiana, Mississippi, and Utah did not demonstrate they had the legal right to challenge the rule and therefore did not block its enforcement in these states. His order will stay in place until June 2 while further legal proceedings take place.
