DOJ Kills Biden's ATF Dealer Power Grab in Court

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's DOJ filed a motion to dismiss Texas v. ATF, signaling the administration is done defending the ATF's 'Engaged in the Business' rule — a Biden-era power grab that forced countless private gun sellers to obtain federal firearms licenses.

The rule, finalized in 2024, weaponized the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to dramatically expand who the ATF could classify as a firearms dealer. Sell a gun at a swap meet? The ATF wanted your FFL. Gift a firearm from your personal collection? Better watch your back.

Texas led a coalition of states and gun rights groups that refused to let this stand. They sued — and the DOJ just walked away from the fight entirely.

This is what winning looks like.

Under Biden, the ATF spent years building a regulatory empire designed to criminalize ordinary gun owners through bureaucratic redefinition. No legislation. No debate. No vote. Just unelected agency officials rewriting the rules on who counts as a 'dealer' to ensnare as many Americans as possible.

Texas didn't blink. The courts didn't fold. Now the Blanche DOJ has cut the legal lifeline to one of the most aggressive anti-gun regulations the agency ever produced.

Gun owners need to understand what was at stake. This wasn't just paperwork. Violating FFL requirements carries federal criminal penalties. The Biden ATF was setting traps for law-abiding Americans whose private transactions had been quietly reclassified as federal offenses — with no warning and no recourse.

The dismissal motion doesn't automatically void the rule. Gun rights organizations and legal watchdogs must stay on the offensive to ensure full vacatur — not a quiet shelving that lets bureaucrats resurrect it later.

The fight isn't over. Press your representatives to demand the ATF's 'Engaged in the Business' rule be formally rescinded and stripped from the Federal Register permanently. A motion to dismiss is a victory — but a dead rule is the only acceptable outcome.