The finalized rule, which will appear in the Federal Registry, will go into effect in 30 days.The rule would require people who sell firearms online and at gun shows to conduct background checks on their potential customers.The Biden administration on Thursday moved one step closer to enacting a rule requiring people who sell firearms online and at gun shows to conduct background checks on their potential customers.
"Under this regulation, it will not matter if guns are sold on the internet, at a gun show, or at a brick-and-mortar store: if you sell guns predominantly to earn a profit, you must be licensed, and you must conduct background checks," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. "Since then, from New Paris, Ohio, to Chicago, Illinois, to Midland-Odessa, Texas, so many communities have been torn apart to violence committed with weapons bought without background checks," Harris said. "I do believe countless families and communities will be spared the horror and the heartbreak of gun violence by this new rule."
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, passed in 2022, expanded the definition of engaging in the business of firearms dealing to include all individuals who "devote time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business to predominately earn a profit through the repetitive purchase and sale of firearms.