NICK GOSNELL Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON — Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach is demanding that President Biden's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms drop a proposed rule that he says violates the Second Amendment.
"This letter is a comment to a proposed regulation," Kobach said. "We were joined by 25 other state attorneys general from across the country. This is not just me speaking. This is a concern voiced by a majority of states in our nation. What this rule would do is basically redefine who is a firearms dealer. The old definition, which is the one you and I would think is a reasonable one is if you repetitively sell firearms for a livelihood. This new definition that they are proposing would basically indicate that if you just sell one firearm, there's no minimum, sell one firearm for a profit, there's no clear definition of what a profit is, you might be a dealer and it would be illegal for you to sell that firearm unless you have a federal firearms license."
Kobach notes that this would chill a lot of gun sales in this country.
"Americans have been selling firearms between friends and family for as long as there have been firearms, for as long as this has been a country," Kobach said. "This is an effort by the ATF to quietly broaden the definition, so that it's almost impossible for us to do that."
If it becomes necessary to fight the regulation in court, Kobach is prepared for that.
"Hey, this violates the 2nd Amendment, don't do this," Kobach said. "If you do this, we don't say it directly in the letter, but the implication is, we may take the federal government to court."
In addition to the Arizona State Legislature and Attorney General Kobach, the attorneys general of the following states also signed the letter: Iowa, Montana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.