Key Takeaways
- A federal judge vacated the ATF’s ‘Engaged in the Business’ rule, impacting all gun owners nationwide.
- The court found the 2024 rule unlawful and removed it, which makes the government unable to enforce it against anyone.
- The lawsuit included the State of Texas and various gun rights organizations, with Gun Owners of America celebrating the decision.
- The ruling stemmed from a change in administration, leading to the Justice Department dropping its appeal and the ATF starting new rulemaking.
- The previous rule is completely nullified, and the ATF’s replacement rule is still pending.
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
AMARILLO, TX — A federal judge has wiped out the ATF’s “Engaged in the Business” rule, and the ruling reaches every gun owner in the country, not just the people who sued.
On June 12, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk entered final judgment against the ATF in State of Texas v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He found the agency’s 2024 rule unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act and vacated it in full.
The rule, published at 89 Fed. Reg. 28,968 in April 2024, redefined who counts as a firearms dealer “engaged in the business.” Critics warned it swept in private collectors and hobbyists who sold the occasional gun, exposing them to felony liability for not holding a federal license.
Because the court vacated the rule rather than just blocking it against the plaintiffs, the relief is not limited to the parties. The judgment states the government “may not apply the Final Rule to anyone.” That includes people and organizations who never set foot in the case.
The plaintiffs included the State of Texas as lead, joined by Louisiana, Mississippi, Utah, private citizen Jeffrey Tormey, Gun Owners of America, the Gun Owners Foundation, the Tennessee Firearms Association, and the Virginia Citizens Defense League. GOA called it a win for gun owners and said the courts saw the rule for what it was.
More from USA Carry:
The path to final judgment ran through a change in administration. After President Trump took office, he directed the Attorney General to review Biden-era ATF rules. The Justice Department then dropped its appeal at the Fifth Circuit in April 2026, and the ATF opened a new rulemaking to undo the parts of the 2024 rule the court had already flagged as likely unlawful.
The government asked Kacsmaryk to pause the case while that rulemaking played out. He refused. He denied the stay, granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs on the vacatur, denied the government’s motion, and dissolved his own earlier preliminary injunction as unnecessary now that the rule is gone.
I have covered this rule since it landed, and this is the cleanest possible outcome. It is not a narrow carve-out or a temporary block. The rule is off the books for everyone.
The ATF’s replacement rulemaking is still pending. I will keep tracking it, along with the related “Engaged in the Business” litigation moving through the courts in Alabama, to see what the agency tries next.
