The ATF’s proposed rollback of the Biden administration’s “Engaged in the Business” rule would eliminate its formal presumptions against gun owners—but it would not provide the clean break many expected.
Published in the Federal Register on May 6, the proposal would remove the provisions that presumed certain firearm sales constituted unlicensed dealing. It would also discard Biden-era restrictions on what qualifies as a personal collection. At the same time, ATF says conduct previously covered by those presumptions may still be considered circumstantial evidence when determining whether someone is dealing firearms without a license.
That distinction is now drawing opposition from Gun Owners of America, one of the plaintiffs that secured the nationwide vacatur of the Biden rule in Texas v. ATF on June 12. GOA argues that removing the presumptions while preserving some of the agency’s underlying enforcement theories leaves gun owners exposed to another round of regulatory abuse.
“ATF has proposed a replacement rule that claims to ‘rescind’ the Biden rule, but in reality keeps key parts of its legal framework in place,” GOA warned in a June 29 action alert.
The proposed regulation is not yet final, and the 2024 rule it would revise has already been struck down. The dispute is therefore no longer about whether the old rule survives. The dispute is whether ATF’s proposal fully restores the pre-Biden limits or, as GOA contends, preserves enforcement theories the Texas court rejected. Gun owners have until August 4, 2026, to submit comments on the proposal.
Why GOA Says Gun Owners Still Face Risk
In an action alert, the GOA said the initial rule “tried to twist the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to impose backdoor universal background checks by redefining who counts as a ‘dealer.'” It then flagged that the replacement “claims to ‘rescind’ the Biden rule, but in reality keeps key parts of its legal framework in place and leaves gun owners exposed.”
The objection rests on an admission the ATF makes openly. While the agency vows to drop a handful of Biden’s presumptions and pare back a few definitions, it states outright that “some sections of the Biden rule will be retained.” To GOA, that means the real threat never went anywhere.
“ATF still treats everyday behavior by gun owners as suspicious: keeping a simple list of your firearms, reselling the same model within a short window, or even just offering to sell a firearm can be used as evidence that you are ‘engaged in the business’ without a license,” the group wrote.
It pressed further, noting that “the agency continues to push the idea that intent alone can be enough evidence to prosecute law-abiding gun owners as illegal firearms traffickers, despite the court’s ruling and the clear limits Congress placed in law.”
GOA refuses to accept any surviving fragment of the regulation. “The rule must be rescinded in its entirety,” the organization declared.
The group is also arming members with a prewritten letter to fire off to regulators before the comment window shuts. That letter brands the proposal as “a recycled version of the Biden Administration’s effort to impose backdoor universal background checks through executive action rather than legislation,” language the group ties to “a clear breach of trust with America’s law-abiding gun owners.”
The message ends by pushing the ATF to “withdraw this proposal and issue a new rule that faithfully follows the plain language of federal law, respects the rights of law-abiding gun owners, and clearly rejects the flawed legal theories that federal courts have already rejected.”
Texas Court Vacated the Biden Rule Nationwide
The frustration stems from the dispute’s origins. Back in 2024, the Biden ATF signed off on a rule that sharply widened the pool of people counted as firearms dealers required to carry a federal license and process background checks. The agency built its case on the Safer Communities Act of 2022, which had already scrapped the older livelihood test and opened the door to labeling anyone who sold guns for profit a dealer.
From there, the ATF layered on rebuttable presumptions, casting routine acts like logging your own firearms, flipping the same model, or listing a gun for sale as proof of dealing without a license. GOA challenged the measure at once, and the group credits a Texas federal judge with striking down the entire rule for reaching past the authority Congress granted.
Trump’s return to the White House prompted his DOJ to draft a substitute. In late April 2026, freshly confirmed ATF Director Robert Cekada unveiled a sweeping slate of proposed rules, one purporting to cancel the “Engaged in the Business” regulation.
At first glance, it resembled an outright triumph. The catch lives in the details of the replacement, which the agency logged in the Federal Register on May 6, 2026. The filing confirms portions of the abandoned rule will remain, which means recording a personal gun collection, reselling one model inside a narrow window, or advertising a firearm for sale can still be turned against an owner, while the agency clings to the position that intent by itself justifies a trafficking charge, a theory the courts have already discarded.
GOA’s central grievance is direct, since scrapping only part of a rule amounts to no repeal. Because a federal court already voided the Biden regulation, the group contends the ATF has no legal ground to salvage a portion of it under a new title, a tactic GOA sums up as changing the wrapper while protecting the contents.
Gun Owners Have Until August 4 to Comment
The comment stage matters for reasons that reach past routine participation. Each remark becomes part of the formal administrative record judges pore over once a rule lands in court, so complaints lodged today can later show the agency ignored serious objections and behaved arbitrarily under the Administrative Procedure Act. GOA is pressing gun owners to seize the chance before it closes. “If ATF doesn’t listen, these comments build the record that will be used in future legal challenges,” the organization wrote. “Let ATF know that gun owners expect real change, not a recycled version of Biden’s universal background check rule.”
The lesson for gun owners is plain, since a rule that survives in fragments still binds the same law-abiding Americans it targeted from the start. Nothing short of a full repeal honors the plain text of federal law or the rights the Constitution already guarantees.
Silence Is Defeat: Why Gun Owners Must Flood ATF Comment Dockets Now
About José Niño
José Niño is a freelance writer based in Charlotte, North Carolina. You can contact him via Facebook and X/Twitter. Subscribe to his Substack newsletter by visiting “Jose Nino Unfiltered” on Substack.com.
