A controversial 2024 rule change by federal firearms regulators, which paved the way for universal background checks, was consigned to the trash heap last week. 

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, writing from his court in the U.S. Northern District of Texas, enjoined the ATF from enforcing the enhanced "Engaged in the Business" rule pushed through during the Biden Administration. 

The rule, challenged by a host of states and 2A organizations, established a mushy series of pitfalls that could make anyone who sells a single modern gun without a federal firearms license liable for prosecution as an illegal weapons dealer. Even selling a gun to a relative could make one suspect. 

In effect, the only way to ensure a person-to-person gun sale was legal under the ambiguous rule was to go through an FFL for a Brady check, effectively setting the stage for universal background checks. 

When proposed three years ago, the rule was divisive, with 318,040 public comments filed during its gestation period and 46 states taking sides on the issue. 

Four of those states, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Utah, allied with Gun Owners of America, the Tennessee Firearms Association, and the Virginia Citizens Defense League, saw their challenge succeed with Kacsmaryk's order last week, which granted summary judgment for the plaintiffs and vacated the rule, echoing a ruling from last October in a similar case brought by the NRA.

The crux of the groups' argument was that the ATF overstepped its regulatory mandate and attempted not just to interpret and enforce the law, but to make it, which is a job for Congress.  

"This outcome is an important reminder: the ATF does not have authority to rewrite federal law by regulation," notes the Tennessee Firearms Association on the case. "Congress writes statutes. Agencies administer them. When an agency attempts to transform lawful conduct into regulated conduct by bureaucratic decree, it must be challenged – and defeated."

In addition to the court orders, the ATF in April announced that the repeal of the Biden "Engaged in the Business" rule was one of 34 reforms it was pursuing. 

Banner image: A SIG P320 Flux Raider Legion in the Guns.com Studios. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)