115 Members Of Congress Urge Obama To Take Executive Action To Reduce Gun Violence

However, despite tragedy after tragedy, the Republican Congress has not been willing to pass any meaningful legislation to strengthen laws to help keep guns out of the hands of individuals who pose an increased risk to public safety.

In the face of Congressional inaction, your administration could take an immediate step that would have an important impact on limiting gun violence. Specifically, we urge that you address an aspect of the private sale loophole that allows guns to be sold without a background check, by eliminating the ambiguity surrounding the term: “engaged in the business” as it pertains to federally licensed firearms dealers.

Under current law, only licensed gun dealers are required to perform background checks for all gun sales, and only those individuals deemed to be “engaged in the business” of dealing in guns are required to obtain a license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). However, the regulatory definition of “engaged in the business,” is exceptionally vague. As a result, individuals are able to sell guns at a high volume at gun shows, over the internet, or elsewhere without ever having becoming licensed and, in turn, without being compelled to conduct a simple background check before completing a sale.

Updating the definition of “engaged in the business” to provide more explicit guidance as to which gun sellers are required to obtain a federal firearms license will help ensure that individuals are not able to continue to exploit this ambiguity in the current regulation and sell guns at a high volume without any oversight by ATF and without conducting background checks. This type of action is not without precedent, as many states have provided this type of explicit guidance regarding which vendors engaged in retail sales in the state are required to collect states’ sales tax. This change would be a positive step forward in closing the private sale loophole, a policy change that roughly 90 percent of Americans support. It would help ensure that those clearly holding themselves out as gun dealers are held to the same standard as the thousands of responsible gun dealers already licensed with ATF across the country.