DOJ Kills Biden's ATF 'Engaged in Business' Rule

That rule, rammed through by Biden's ATF, dramatically expanded who the federal government could force to obtain a Federal Firearms License. Under that interpretation, private sellers — Americans selling personal firearms — suddenly faced felony prosecution for conducting transactions without a government-issued license.

Acting AG Todd Blanche's DOJ just told that rule exactly where it can go.

Texas led the charge against this regulatory overreach, and the lawsuit exposed the rule for what it was: a back-door attempt to gut private firearm sales without a single vote in Congress. Biden's ATF couldn't get universal background checks passed legislatively, so they invented new definitions to criminalize law-abiding gun owners.

This is how the system is supposed to work. Courts exist to stop federal agencies from rewriting laws they don't like. Texas stood up, sued, and won. The Biden-era ATF spent years treating gun owners like suspects — demanding licenses, threatening prosecutions, and manufacturing criminals out of people exercising a constitutional right.

That era is over.

The 'Engaged in the Business' rule was never about stopping criminal violence. Actual criminals don't register their firearms, don't apply for FFLs, and don't follow ATF guidance. The rule existed to build a de facto registry, strangle the secondary market for firearms, and make gun ownership as bureaucratically painful as possible.

Gun owners in Texas and across the country should know: this victory didn't happen by accident. It happened because states fought back, organizations litigated, and Americans refused to accept regulatory tyranny dressed up as public safety.

Watch the ATF closely — the fight isn't over. Demand your representatives defund any future attempts to resurrect this rule through the back door.