Texas AG Ken Paxton sues to block rule requiring background checks in private gun sales

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is once again in a legal battle with the federal government. This time the issue is over requiring background checks for private-owner gun sales.

Earlier this spring the Justice Department expanded rules requiring background checks and licenses for private gun sales. Many guns are sold and traded on the private market, between friends and family, and at gun shows. The new rule treats those sales like the ones made at gun stores.

Paxton said the rules are an unconstitutional expansion of federal rules and he's leading a multistate coalition in suing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for "unlawfully attempting to abridge Americans’ constitutional right to privately buy and sell firearms."

Paxton said Wednesday morning an action like that is required to go through Congress and he hopes to stop enforcement of the rules in court.

“Yet again, Joe Biden is weaponizing the federal bureaucracy to rip up the Constitution and destroy our citizens’ Second Amendment rights,” Paxton said in a statement. “This is a dramatic escalation of his tyrannical abuse of authority. With today’s lawsuit, it is my great honor to defend our Constitutionally-protected freedoms from the out-of-control federal government.”

In a statement, the Biden Administration said the action is part of a strategy to "stem the flow of illegally acquired firearms into our communities and hold accountable those who supply the firearms used in crime."

“I’ve spent hours with families who’ve lost loved ones to gun violence. They all have the same message: ‘Do something.’ Today, my Administration is taking action to make sure fewer guns are sold without background checks," President Joe Biden said in a statement on April 11. "This is going to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and felons. And my Administration is going to continue to do everything we possibly can to save lives. Congress needs to finish the job and pass universal background checks legislation now.”

Paxton was joined in Frisco by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and Wes Virdell, Texas State Director of Gun Owners of America and a Republican candidate for Texas Dist. 53. Gun Owners of America are co-plaintiffs.

Kobach and Paxton hope a judge makes a decision on the case within a month.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach announce lawsuits against the ATF to stop enforcement of a new rule requiring background checks for private gun sales. They were joined by Wes Virdell, Texas State Director of Gun Owners of America, which is a co-plaintiff in the Texas lawsuit.