Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is suing the federal government over a rule change restricting gun sales between private parties. Tennessee joins 20 other states in the suit, which is aimed at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
New federal regulations that expand the scope of regulated gun sales will go into effect May 20. Under the rule change, an individual party engaged in a gun sale with the sole objective of “profit” — rather than the current stipulations of “livelihood and profit” — falls under ATF regulation for those “engaged in the business” of gun sales. The tweak would close the so-called “gun show loophole” by bringing private transactions under increased legal scrutiny.
State AG Skrmetti holds press conference denouncing the Biden administration’s Title IX updates
Skrmetti’s office has filed regular suits challenging moves by the federal government since taking office in 2022. Such far-ranging lawfare activism on topics like trans people playing sports and environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing has earned Skrmetti, a once-failed Republican candidate, prime airtime on Fox News and statewide attention within the GOP. Gov. Bill Lee has given his legal team — which recently built out a “strategic litigation unit” to support conservative activist suits — a $10 million budget bump this year.
The Tennessee Firearms Association, a small activist group led by local attorney John Harris with a West End address, filed a similar challenge on May 1 alongside gun support lobbies in Virginia, Utah, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana. Both Skrmetti and the TFA argue that the federal government overreaches in its attempt to regulate private sales between individuals, a confined activity not subject to the federal government’s jurisdiction under the interstate commerce clause.
“The regulatory burden this rule imposes on regular people who occasionally sell or trade a firearm to a family member or close friend is not commensurate with the agency’s statutory authority or consistent with the Constitution,” reads a statement from Skrmetti’s office, which includes quotes from 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.”
Unable to rely on lawmakers to regulate guns, some Tennesseans have decided to risk gun ownership
The ATF justifies its rule change with the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and a 2023 executive order by President Joe Biden. Tennessee has among the nation’s most lax gun regulations. State Republicans consistently promote unfettered access to guns and champion broad readings of the Second Amendment. Last year’s deadly shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville brought gun access and gun regulation to the forefront of state politics, where people across the political spectrum advocated for common sense gun reform.
Powerful Republicans like Lee appeared to briefly reconsider the state’s lenient stance on guns in the days following the Covenant School shooting but have since increased access to guns — most recently with a law allowing staff and faculty to carry firearms in Tennessee schools.
