It appears those wacky bureaucrats with guns and jackboots are at it again. That’s right, the ATF is trying to change laws and even the meaning of words to allow them to lord over even more of the U.S. citizenry who might have a desire to defend themselves or maybe just have a little fun shooting targets and such. Breitbart’s AWR Hawkins reported the ATF’s background check rule has expanded the definition of “sale” in gun transactions to include services or bartering, which could effectively require private sellers to use the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
As reported by Breitbart News, the rule aims to redefine what it means to be “engaged in the business of selling guns,” targeting those who sell guns for profit, frequently or through barter to ensure they go through background checks. This adjustment seeks to prevent individuals from bypassing licensing requirements through nonmonetary transactions. The rule was actually passed back in August 2023, but not much has been mentioned about this potential change in interpretation as changes in rules and laws under the Biden Administration would make a Native American shape-shifter jealous.
Here’s more from the article:
Much of the rule focuses on guns being sold for “profit,” using degree of profit and frequency of sales to categorize private sellers as persons who must go through NICS to sell/transfer guns.
However, pages 26-27 of the rule equates “pecuniary gain” with “profit,” opening the door for the ATF to redefine the word “sale” so as to require a NICS check when a private seller is “bartering” over a gun.
Beginning with the last paragraph on Page 26 and reading into the first paragraph of page 27, the reader sees clearly that the ATF is defining the terms: “Defining these terms to include any method of payment for a firearm would clarify that persons cannot avoid the licensing requirement by, for instance, bartering or providing or receiving services in exchange for firearms with the predominant intent to earn pecuniary gain even where no money is exchanged.”
Second Amendment Foundation founder and executive vice president Alan Gottlieb commented on the ATF rule, saying, “This is a continuation of the Biden war on guns. It is another attempt to get around Congress to make new laws without congressional approval.”