President Obama will announce Tuesday that he’s issuing an executive action aimed at closing the so-called gun-show loophole that gun sellers have used to avoid registering as dealers, and to circumvent rules requiring dealers to check customers’ backgrounds.
The executive action will clarify that it doesn’t matter if a business is conducted from a store, a gun show or online. “If you’re in the business of selling firearms, you must get a license and conduct background checks,” Valerie Jarrett, a White House senior adviser, said on a phonecall with reporters Monday evening. “Just because you shop for a gun with a mouse instead of your feet, you shouldn’t be able to avoid a background check.”
“We are dedicated to doing everything we can to keep guns out of the wrong hands,” Jarrett said. But she said true change won’t happen until the public demands that lawmakers do more to prevent gun violence, Jarrett said.
The move is expected to again lead to Republican opposition, and complaints that the Obama administration is moving ahead without input from Congress. Obama was set to announce the actions shortly before noon on Tuesday.
Under Obama’s latest move, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will clarify that “there is no specific threshold number of firearms purchased or sold that triggers the licensure requirement,” according to a White House statement. Previously, officials have said a certain number of guns must be sold before they are thought to be “engaged in the business” of selling guns and thus subject to the law.
“But it is important to note that even a few transactions, when combined with other evidence, can be sufficient to establish that a person is ‘engaged in the business,'” the statement said. “For example, courts have upheld convictions for dealing without a license when as few as two firearms were sold or when only one or two transactions took place, when other factors also were present.”
The ATF will also clarify that firearms dealings can be done without regard to location, and can be done at gun shows or over the Internet.
The action boils down to a warning that the ATF will be enforcing the law against these smaller dealers, and warns that there will be “criminal penalties for failing to comply with these requirements.”
To help make that happen, Obama will request hundreds of new federal officials to enforce the action. Obama will direct the FBI to hire 230 new examiners to help man the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and is asking Congress to fund 200 new ATF agent positions in fiscal 2017. The uptick in background system examiners will bolster that workforce by 50 percent.
The system aims to identify prohibited people attempting to purchase or take position of a firearm before they actually do. The system receives 63,000 daily requests for background checks from gun dealers and sellers, according to the White House.
Those hirings, however, could be blocked by Congress, as Republicans may decide to fight back by blocking those new staffers.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch explained to reporters that the new guidance is aimed at prohibiting actual dealers from hiding behind collector or hobbyist status. It will also close the “trust loophole,” that people have been used to avoid registering by going through legal trusts, corporations or other legal status, Lynch said.
The hobbyist and collector exemption will remain, Lynch underscored, but the guidance is intended to prevent its abuse.
While the statue is not changing, the guidance ATF offers gun enthusiasts and dealers is, Lynch said. Lynch cited a spike in applications for trust and corporate exemptions as a reason for the new guidance.
In 2000, ATF received fewer than 900 applications for an exemption, according to the White House. In 2014, more than 90,000 people tried to buy guns by claiming they were willed or otherwise property of a legal entity.
Two years ago to the month, Obama issued 23 executive actions bolstering existing laws, clarifying rules, and calling for studies and the issuance of reports.
“I’m also confident that the recommendations that are being made by my team here are ones that are entirely consistent with the Second Amendment and people’s lawful right to bear arms,” President Obama said earlier Monday.
“And you know, we’ve been very careful, recognizing that although we have a strong tradition of gun ownership in this country, that even those who possess firearms for hunting, for self-protection and for other legitimate reasons want to make sure that the wrong people don’t have them for the wrong reasons,” he said.
