A coalition of 21 conservative states, co-led by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, has filed a lawsuit challenging a new federal rule regulating licenses for gun dealers.
The rule is meant to clarify definitions and help implement the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022, which the White House has called the “only significant expansion of the background check requirement” since 1993.
The rule broadens the definition of when a person is considered a firearms dealer and therefore must be licensed and required to run background checks on the people they sell guns to, according to the rule adopted on April 19.
"It is clear that Biden will stop at nothing to criminalize law-abiding citizens for exercising their Second Amendment rights,” Bird said in a press release. “… It is wrong for Biden to force Iowans to become licensed firearms dealers just to sell a gun to a friend or family member. I am taking Biden to court to stand up for Iowans’ Second Amendment rights.”
At a news conference Wednesday, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin called the rule an "attempt to do what … the administration couldn't get through the Congress" as well as "arbitrary and capricious."
"They do not have the power to do this unilaterally via fiat," Griffin said.
"This proposed rule does not help clarify anything" and "should have to go through the Congress," he said.
Griffin and Bird are co-leading the suit with Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach as part of a 21-state coalition. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Little Rock.
The other states include Montana, Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming, as well as several individuals and a gun collector group.
The rule is meant to clarify definitions and help implement the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022, which the White House has called the “only significant expansion of the background check requirement” since 1993.
The rule broadens the definition of when a person is considered a firearms dealer and therefore must be licensed and required to run background checks on the people they sell guns to, according to the rule adopted on April 19.
"It is clear that Biden will stop at nothing to criminalize law-abiding citizens for exercising their Second Amendment rights,” Bird said in a press release. “… It is wrong for Biden to force Iowans to become licensed firearms dealers just to sell a gun to a friend or family member. I am taking Biden to court to stand up for Iowans’ Second Amendment rights.”
At a news conference Wednesday, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin called the rule an "attempt to do what … the administration couldn't get through the Congress" as well as "arbitrary and capricious."
"They do not have the power to do this unilaterally via fiat," Griffin said.
"This proposed rule does not help clarify anything" and "should have to go through the Congress," he said.
Griffin and Bird are co-leading the suit with Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach as part of a 21-state coalition. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Little Rock.
The other states include Montana, Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming, as well as several individuals and a gun collector group.
Iowa joins conservative-led states suing Biden administration over 'gun show loophole' rule
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said the rule would force Iowans to register as federal firearms dealers to sell even a single gun to other family.
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