Kansas AG leads 21-state coalition in defense of Second Amendment
“Biden’s latest attempt to strip away the Second Amendment rights of Americans through ATF regulations will make many law-abiding gun owners felons if they sell a firearm or two to family or friends,” Kobach said. “This rule is blatantly unconstitutional. We are suing to defend the Second Amendment rights of all Americans.”
The rule seeks to require a federal firearms dealer license for every individual who sells a firearm for anything the ATF sees as a profit, including currency, exchange of another firearm, or a service. It could make a felon of a gun hobbyist who sells a firearm to another family member or a of hunter who trades a firearm with another hunting buddy.
“Until now, those who repetitively purchased and sold firearms as a regular course of business had to become a licensee… This rule would put innocent firearm sales between law-abiding friends and family members within reach of federal regulation,” the court filing reads. “Such innocent sales between friends and family would constitute a felony if the seller did not in fact obtain a federal firearms license and perform a background check.”
In the suit filed today in Arkansas, the attorneys general argue that the rule is unconstitutional, because it is vague, violates the Second Amendment, and circumvents Congress.
Attorneys general from 20 other states joined Kobach in the lawsuit. They include attorneys general from Iowa, Montana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Idaho, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Read the court filing here.