Attorney General Tim Griffin files challenge to ruling removing Arkansas from ATF lawsuit

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Attorney General Tim Griffin is headed back to court after a recent ruling against Arkansas in a lawsuit against a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives rule change about gun sales by private sellers.

Griffin filed a motion for reconsideration in Kansas federal court on Tuesday. The motion asks to overturn a May 23 ruling that removed Arkansas from the case centering around the so-called gun show loophole due to the state's lack of standing.

Arkansas had argued that the recent ATF ruling change would stifle gun show sales, causing the state to lose tax revenue on those sales as well as taxes from table rentals.

Judge James Moody Jr. ruled that the argument was “vague and speculative” and moved the case from the Eastern District of Arkansas to the District of Kansas Wichita Division court.

Arkansas had been co-leading the case with Kansas, while 19 other states and private individuals in Kansas were listed as additional plaintiffs.

In his latest filing, Griffin argued the earlier ruling was premature and ill-considered, adding that the case was in the pleading stage when the ruling was made and claimed Arkansas could show its existing tax revenue from gun show sales.

The ATF rule change went into effect on April 19 and changed the definition of who was required to have a gun seller’s license by removing the “primary business” clause, making the requirement apply to anybody who sold guns for profit.

The change impacted private gun show sellers who sold without a license because those sales were not their primary livelihood. A federal firearms license holder has multiple requirements above a private seller, including the need to perform a background check on every customer who buys a gun.

The ATF’s focus on private gun sales and the gun show loophole are key factors in the ongoing investigation into the shooting death of Bryan Malinowski at his Little Rock home by ATF agents.

Federal search warrants claim the former executive director of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport had been selling firearms at gun shows as an unlicensed private seller.

Agents served a search warrant at Malinowski’s home in the early morning hours of March 19. His family claims Malinowski was defending himself after they said agents broke down his door just after 6 a.m. Malinowski and an unidentified agent were both shot in the exchange, with Malinowski dying a day later.

Family attorney Bud Cummins has claimed Malinowski was acting inside the law because firearms sales were not his primary source of income, in keeping with the rule at the time.

from KARK https://ift.tt/wZVLn0l