Federal judge refuses to block Biden administration rule on gun sales in Kansas, 19 other states

A federal judge in Kansas has refused to block the nationwide enforcement of a Biden administration rule requiring firearms dealers to do background checks of buyers at gun shows, leaving Texas as the only state so far where a legal challenge has succeeded.

U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse's ruling this week came in a lawsuit brought by Kansas and 19 other states, three individual gun collectors and a Wichita, Kansas-based association for collectors. They sought an order preventing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from enforcing the rule that took effect in May through the trial of their lawsuit.

Twenty-six states with Republican attorneys general, gun owner groups and individual gun collectors filed three federal lawsuits in May against the Biden administration. The rule is an attempt to close a loophole allowing tens of thousands of guns to be sold every year by unlicensed dealers without checks to see whether buyers are legally prohibited from having firearms. It applies not only to gun shows but also to other places outside brick-and-mortar firearms stores.

Critics contend the new rule violates gun rights protected by the Second Amendment and that Democratic President Joe Biden's administration doesn't have the legal authority to issue it. They also argue that the rule will depress gun sales, making firearms less available to collectors and costing states tax revenues.

But Crouse, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, said in his ruling Wednesday that predictions of harm to the states, gun collectors and groups are too speculative and create doubts that they actually have grounds to sue. He said such doubts undermine their argument that they are likely to win their lawsuit — a key