Revising Regulations Defining “Engaged in the Business” as a Dealer in Firearms

What it does

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives ("ATF") is proposing to revise regulations implementing the "engaged in the business" definition from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act ("BSCA"). Although Congress defined that term in BSCA, the Department of Justice ("Department") provided additional definitions in its implementing regulations to further define terms within the statutory definition and to include examples of covered activities that established rebuttable presumptions of being engaged in the business of dealing in firearms. This rule proposes to remove those changes. ATF has determined that the changes have not shown the expected impact on federal firearms licensee applications, administrative licensing actions, civil forfeitures, or other anticipated effects.

The Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Bureau's summary, as published in the Federal Register.

What it would change

1 part of Title 27 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

27 CFR 478

Before this

No earlier Federal Register document under regulation identifier 1140-AB01 since Jan. 1, 2025.

What happens next and when

Comments must be submitted in writing, and must be submitted on or before (or, if mailed, must be postmarked on or before) August 4, 2026. Commenters should be aware that the federal e-rulemaking portal comment system will not accept comments after midnight Eastern Time on the last day of the comment period.

The agency's dates, word for word.

Check it yourself

• The document in the Federal Register
• Docket ATF-2026-0074 on Regulations.gov
• Title 27 on eCFR

The record as published

Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register