‘Historic’ action by justice department closes ‘doggone dangerous’ loophole in Biden administration’s fight against gun violence
The sale of firearms on the internet and at gun shows in the US will in future be subject to mandatory background checks, the justice department said on Thursday as it announced a “historic” new action to keep weapons out of the hands of criminals.
The closing of the so-called gun show loophole, which exempts private transactions from restrictions that apply to licensed dealers, has long been a goal of the Biden administration, and is specifically targeted in the rule published in the federal register today.
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The White House estimates that 22% of guns owned by Americans were acquired without a background check and that about 23,000 more individuals will be required to be licensed as a dealer after the rule’s implementation.
First because the DoJ simply doesn’t prosecute most of those crimes. They refuse to go after straw purchasers and their buyers who go on to illegally modify weapons for full-automatic and use them to commit murders much less some rando white boy out in the sticks.
Second because what Kyle and the purchaser did arguably wasn’t a “Straw Purchase”. Had the DoJ attempted a prosecution in such a high profile case they ran the serious risk of having the whole house of cards they’ve built around “Straw Purchases” collapse into a flaming pile of ash.
Exactly and 2A Advocates, including the NRA (fuck them), have been screaming about this for decades.