Arkansas-filed ‘gun show loophole’ federal lawsuit transferred to Kansas

U.S. District Judge James Moody on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit challenging new rules that close the “gun show loophole” for firearm sales and transferred the case to federal court in Kansas.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas on May 1. They were joined in the suit by 19 other state attorneys general.

Moody’s order on Thursday said that, without a plaintiff in the district or a clear declaration of potential harm, Arkansas had no standing to sue in the state’s Eastern District. His decision followed a hearing on May 17.

The case will be transferred to the Kansas court system, Moody said.

“I am disappointed by the court’s ruling and considering all options,” Griffin said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

Arkansas attorney general announces lawsuit challenging gun show loophole rule

The lawsuit claims the federal rule to close the gun show loophole regulation is illegal. Griffin said the process of how the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have gone about proposing changes bypasses the law.

Griffin referred to the federal rule change as a “combination of election year politics, of frustration [and] not getting what you want through Congress that would do it another way.”

The Biden administration finalized the federal rule in April. The rule has been touted as a significant step in gun regulation as it requires anyone who sells a gun for profit to register for a Federal Firearms License.

While the lawsuit argues the rule change will lead to fewer firearm sales and lost tax revenue, Moody found Arkansas’ examples of injuries “vague and speculative.”

“Unlike [other states] who submitted declarations to establish potential harm, Arkansas submitted no declaration and failed to call  any witness at the preliminary injunction hearing to establish harm,” according to Moody’s ruling.

Moody declined to make any findings on the merit of the case.

Other states in 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.