Kentucky Attorney General Sues to Stop Biden Administration’s Harassment of Law-Abiding Gun Owners

New ATF rule will prevent law-abiding Americans from buying or selling firearms

FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 10, 2024) – Attorney General Russell Coleman joined a 21-state coalition in filing a lawsuit to stop a new rule from the Biden Administration’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The new ATF rule will prevent law-abiding Americans from buying or selling firearms. This lawsuit is Attorney General Coleman’s latest effort to protect Kentuckians’ constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

“The Biden Administration is trying everything it can to come after law-abiding Kentuckians and one of our most cherished constitutional rights,” said Attorney General Coleman. “As a lifetime member of the NRA, I will always defend our freedoms against this big-government harassment.”

The expansive rule requires anyone who sells a firearm for anything the ATF sees as a profit—including currency, an exchange of another firearm or a service—to obtain a federal firearms dealer license. This regulation could potentially criminalize ordinary Americans, including a person who sells a firearm to a family member or a hunter who trades a firearm with another hunting companion.

In the legal challenge, the coalition of attorneys general argue that the rule is unconstitutional because it is vague, violates the Second Amendment and circumvents Congress.

“Until now, those who repetitively purchased and sold firearms as a regular course of business had to become a licensee… This rule would put innocent firearm sales between law-abiding friends and family members within reach of federal regulation,” wrote the attorneys general in the court filing. “Such innocent sales between friends and family would constitute a felony if the seller did not in fact obtain a federal firearms license and perform a background check.”

General Coleman joined the Kansas, Iowa and Montana-led challenge, alongside attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Idaho, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Read the complaint.

In January, Attorney General Coleman joined every other Republican AG in the country to oppose an ideological investigation into an ammunition manufacturer that would have infringed on Kentuckians’ rights and undermined military readiness.