Engaged In The Business  by Tom Reynolds

In April 2024, President Joe Biden’s ATF broadened the definition of “engaged in the business” of selling guns by adding stricter background check, record-keeping, and licensing requirements. These vague stipulations had the potential to turn private, non-FFL hobbyists, collectors, and occasional gun sellers into accidental criminals, even if they’re not running a gun shop.

Before the new rule, gun owners could sell firearms from their personal collection without being an FFL, as long as they weren’t doing it mainly to turn a profit through repeated sales. The new rule introduced new factors that created an automatic presumption that one was “in the business,” which put occasional sellers at risk of prosecution.

The rule would have been a backdoor strategy for universal background checks, a favorite goal of the anti-2A left.

Texas, along with several other states and firearm organizations sued.  (Texas v ATF). Texas argued the ATF had gone beyond its legal authority, broken basic administrative rules, and destroyed Second Amendment rights protected by the Constitution.

In June 2024, Texas Federal District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the rule against the plaintiffs.

Biden’s DOJ appealed to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit but the Fifth Circuit agreed with the judge that Congress clearly meant to protect occasional private gun sales between non-FFL’s, so the preliminary injunction was still alive and in force; the “engaged in business” rule could not be enforced against the plaintiffs in the case.  With the change in administrations in January 2025, it lay dormant.  However, the rule enforcement was still buried in legal procedural fights so ‘dormant’ did not mean ‘dead.’

On April 16th 2026, the Trump Department of Justice filed a CONSENT MOTION TO VOLUNTARILY DISMISS APPEAL.  It said, “Pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 42(b), the government respectfully moves to voluntarily dismiss this appeal, with all parties to bear their own costs. Plaintiffs consent to this motion.” 

Texas and its co-plaintiffs won. The case should close within weeks, barring any unexpected objections. 

While not covered by this, the ATF should not be enforcing these rules against anyone.  Private sales will be regulated primarily by state law.

A couple points about this.

Biden’s ATF followed the usual strategy of the anti-2A left and basically said, “Sue if you have the money.  If not, too bad.”  But Texas had the money and the U.S. Constitution won.  Now, Trump’s DOJ has a section devoted to protecting our 2A rights when states attack our 2A rights.

Government agencies are formed to regulate businesses not to drive companies out of business.  But the ATF has had an adversarial approach to businesses under – dare I say it – Democrat presidents.  And Republican presidents have not always been rabid about reining in the ATF’s bureaucrats; what Trump called the “Swamp.”  Trump’s ATF seems to be saying, in several cases, that times are changing and it will work with businesses and individuals rather than against them.

The problem is that buried in the ATF are denizens of the ‘Swamp’ waiting for a new, anti-2A administration to open-the-gates on attacking our 2A rights.  Unless Congress passes laws to protect our rights against these infringements, we’ll be back needing to raise money to fight against our own government.  Of course, we could take the easy road and vote and keep pro-2A politicians in office.