A new rule from the Biden Administration would require private gun sellers to be licensed and carry out background checks on potential buyers, closing the infamous “gun show loophole” that allows people who wouldn’t be able to buy weapons through licensed gun stores to get their hands on guns, Politico reports.
Submitted to the Federal Register by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Thursday, the rule leverages the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to cover people who sell weapons for profit at gun shows, on the internet, and out of their homes, transactions that have largely been unregulated. It’s the most sweeping update to gun sales registrations in more than a quarter century.
An analysis released by the ATF last week found that 68,000 guns confiscated by the agency from 2017 to 2021 for being trafficked illegally were re-sold by private sellers. More than 20,000 private sellers run businesses selling weapons through these unregulated channels.