The Biden-era ATF rule targeting private firearm sales was officially vacated last month — and Texas Gun Rights helped make it happen.
On June 12, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas vacated 2024 ATF “Engaged in the Business” rule — a Biden administration scheme designed to blur the line between ordinary Americans selling personal firearms and federally licensed gun dealers.
In plain English, the Biden ATF tried to create a de facto backdoor universal gun registration scheme by forcing more private individuals to register as Federal Firearms Licensees just to engage in private firearm transactions.
More FFLs means more federal paperwork.
More federal records.
More ATF oversight.
And more private gun sales dragged into Washington’s gun control machine.
But the court rejected it.
In its final judgment, the court granted summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs, denied the government’s motion for summary judgment, and vacated the rule under the Administrative Procedure Act.
That means ATF may not enforce the rule against anyone.
THE BIDEN ATF TRIED TO DO WHAT CONGRESS WOULD NOT
Anti-gun politicians have wanted expanded gun owner registration for decades.
But because they could not get Congress to pass their full wish list, the Biden administration tried to do it through ATF rulemaking.
That is how the modern gun control machine operates:
Lose in Congress.
Run to the bureaucracy.
Rewrite the rules.
Then dare gun owners to spend years and millions of dollars fighting back in court.
The “Engaged in the Business” rule was never just about “dealers.”
It was about federal control over private gun owners.
TEXAS GUN RIGHTS PRESSED THE EXACT ISSUE THE COURT EMBRACED
Texas Gun Rights did not sit on the sidelines.
Texas Gun Rights joined the National Association for Gun Rights in filing an amicus brief in the Fifth Circuit supporting the plaintiffs in Texas v. ATF.
Our brief focused on a critical issue: when a federal agency unlawfully exceeds its authority, courts should not leave millions of Americans trapped under the same illegal rule simply because they were not personally named in the lawsuit.
ATF wanted a nationwide rule.
But when a court blocked it, ATF suddenly argued for narrow relief.
Texas Gun Rights and NAGR pushed back, arguing that the Administrative Procedure Act authorizes courts to set aside unlawful agency action — and that an unlawful rule should not continue to bind gun owners nationwide.
The court’s final judgment embraced that same broad-relief principle.
Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk vacated the rule under the Administrative Procedure Act and made clear that APA vacatur is “not party-restricted.”
In plain English, ATF may not apply the rule to anyone — including individuals and organizations who were not parties to the case.
That is the exact kind of relief Texas Gun Rights argued was necessary.
Because constitutional rights should not depend on whether your name appears in the caption of a lawsuit.
HELP FUND THE NEXT FIGHT
This ruling is bigger than one ATF rule.
It is a warning to the gun control bureaucracy.
Federal agencies do not get to rewrite the law just because anti-gun politicians cannot get their agenda through Congress.
They do not get to turn private gun owners into federal licensees by bureaucratic decree.
And when they exceed their authority, courts have the power to set those unlawful rules aside.
That is why lawsuits matter.
That is why amicus briefs matter.
Because the scope of relief can determine whether a victory protects a handful of plaintiffs or millions of gun owners.
The Biden ATF’s “Engaged in the Business” rule has now been vacated.
But the fight against federal gun control is far from over.
And Texas Gun Rights Foundation cannot take them on without the support of grassroots gun owners like you.
Your tax-deductible contribution helps fund legal research, amicus briefs, constitutional education, and courtroom efforts to defend the Second Amendment from government overreach.
Please make your most generous tax-deductible contribution today to help Texas Gun Rights Foundation keep fighting for gun owners in court.
