The Biden Department of Justice introduced two new gun control “rules” in December, framing the rules as an outworking of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), which Biden signed in 2022.
BSCA was the gun control package that Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) helped Democrats fashion and secure.
On December 16, 2024, the Truth About Guns reported the two rules, which the DOJ released under the label of “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” (NPRM).
A DOJ press release noted that the first of the two NPRMs, called the Firearm Handlers Rule, makes it possible that “federal firearm licensees (FFLs), such as gun stores, be allowed to use the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to voluntarily conduct employment background checks for certain employees.”
The second NPRM, called the Under-21 Rule, “would codify enhanced NICS background check procedures for prospective firearm purchasers under 21 years of age, among other changes.”
The DOJ pointed out, “Under the BSCA, NICS is required to conduct enhanced background checks for such under-21 purchasers, by contacting certain state and local entities to determine if a juvenile record, such as a criminal conviction or mental health record, may disqualify the purchaser from possessing a firearm.”
Cornyn and fewer than 20 of his Republican colleagues voted with Democrats to pass the BSCA in response to the May 24, 2022, Uvalde school shooting. Ironically, neither the BSCA nor the two latest rules proposed by the DOJ would have prevented that attack.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly:
