Arkansas attorney general announces lawsuit challenging gun show loophole rule

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, announces a multi-state lawsuit seeking to overturn a federal rule closing the "gun show loophole." With Griffin are Deputy Solicitor General Dylan Jacobs and Solicitor General Nicholas Bronni. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate)

Attorney General Tim Griffin on Wednesday announced he would join with 20 other states in a lawsuit challenging new federal regulations on firearm sales.

Griffin, who is co-leading the federal lawsuit with the attorney general from Kansas, said the federal rule is “not even close to legal.” Griffin said the process of how the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have gone about proposing changes is illegal. When asked about the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 — the legislation Congress passed and what the rule will amend — Griffin dismissed its relevance.

“I think that this is a combination of election year politics, of frustration [and] not getting what you want through Congress that would do it another way,” Griffin said. “I think it involves catering to people in his [President Biden’s] base who are demanding it.”

The Biden administration finalized the rule to close the gun show loophole on April 11. The rule has been touted as a significant step forward in gun regulation as it closes the opportunity for people to sell firearms online or other informal venues without completing background checks on purchasers. 

Additionally, it would require more people who sell firearms to seek a federal license. As it exists now, people who don’t claim selling firearms as their primary source of income have been exempt from obtaining a Federal Firearms License. With the gun show loophole closed, anyone who sold a gun for profit would be required to register for a license.

A senior White House official told a States Newsroom reporter in April that the Biden administration is confident the rule will survive any legal disputes. 

On the contrary, Griffin said Tuesday, “I think we make a really strong case that this is not even close to legal.”

The suit asks the court to postpone the rule and declare that it violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It also seeks an injunction against the Department of Justice and the ATF from enforcing the rule.

Though not explicitly mentioned in the lawsuit, Griffin referenced the recent fatal shooting of Little Rock airport executive Bryan Malinowski. On the morning of March 19, ATF agents arrived at Malinowski’s home in West Little Rock to serve a search warrant. 

According to the agency, Malinowski shot at the officers and the federal agents returned fire. ATF agents shot Malinowski in the head, and he died days later in a hospital. Following his death, court documents showed ATF was conducting a raid on the allegations that Malinowski was illegally selling firearms, often at gun shows and other informal settings. Agents seized dozens of guns from Malinowski’s house.

About a month after the raid, Griffin and Republican members of the Arkansas Legislature separately called for ATF to release body camera footage from March 19. It was later revealed agents were not wearing cameras, an apparent violation of the agency’s policy.

Prosecuting Attorney Will Jones is currently investigating the Malinowski shooting.

Asked if Griffin thought the outcome of the raid at Malinowski’s house would have been different if Malinowski had a federal firearm license, he said he didn’t know enough about the case to confidently answer.

Following the press conference Wednesday morning, the attorney for Malinowski’s family, Bud Cummins, released a statement in support of the lawsuit.

“It doesn’t matter if you support more gun control, or you fall on the side of more 2nd amendment liberty,” Cummins wrote. “Everyone must agree only Congress can pass laws, and that none of us should fear prison over rules that are vague and impossible to understand. That is what the Attorney General’s lawsuit announced today is all about.”

Other states joining the lawsuit are Iowa, Montana, Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

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