NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED FEDERAL LAWYERS
What is gun show loophole prosecution
|Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group. We’re a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek, with over 40 years of combined experience handling federal criminal defense cases. We’ve represented clients in some of the most high-profile cases in recent years – the Anna Delvey case that became a Netflix series, the Ghislaine Maxwell juror misconduct case, and many others. If you’re reading this, you’re probably facing federal gun charges related to gun show sales, or ATF is investigating whether you need a dealer’s license. Gun show loophole prosecution means the federal government is charging you with dealing firearms without a license – and these cases carry up to five years in prison.
What prosecutors call the “gun show loophole” isn’t really a loophole. It’s the difference between private sales and being “engaged in the business” of selling firearms. Federal law requires anyone engaged in the business of dealing firearms to have a Federal Firearms License and conduct background checks. Private individuals selling from their personal collections don’t need a license. The problem is the line between those two categories isn’t clear – there’s no bright-line rule about how many guns you can sell, and ATF decides after the fact whether you crossed that line.
What “Engaged in the Business” Actually Means
Under 18 USC 922(a)(1)(A), you’re breaking federal law if you deal firearms without a license. The statute says you’re “engaged in the business” when you devote time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit. That’s vague on purpose – it gives prosecutors room to charge almost anyone who sells multiple guns.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022 changed the definition, making it easier to prosecute gun show sellers. Now you can be “engaged in the business” even if firearms aren’t your primary source of income. Selling guns “to predominantly earn a profit” is enough, even if you have another job. ATF published guidance in 2024 clarifying that sales at gun shows, flea markets, or online all count – location doesn’t matter.
Federal prosecutors look at several factors – how many guns you sold, over what time period, whether you advertised, whether you rented tables at gun shows, whether you bought inventory specifically for resale, how much profit you made. None of these factors alone proves you were dealing without a license, but together they build a case that you weren’t just a hobbyist selling from your personal collection.
Recent Prosecutions Show How Aggressively ATF Pursues These Cases
Three defendants in Dallas – Raleigh Selby, Jack Sims, and James Bennett – each pleaded guilty to unlicensed dealing in 2024 after ATF ran an undercover investigation at several Dallas-area gun shows. Both Bennett and Sims admitted they explicitly promoted that sales at their booths involved “no paperwork” – meaning no background checks. They’re each facing up to five years in federal prison.
In May 2025, an unlicensed dealer in Indiana was sentenced to four years in federal prison for reselling over 1,300 firearms. He bought guns primarily from private sellers at gun shows, then resold them for profit – he sold over 500 firearms to one customer for approximately $350,000 in cash, and many of those guns ended up in Mexico. A Los Angeles man got 33 months in 2024 for running an unlicensed firearms business, selling firearms including machine gun conversion devices. These cases share a pattern – buying guns to resell them, making substantial profits, conducting repeated sales over time.
The April 2024 ATF Rule That Changed Everything
The Department of Justice issued a final rule in April 2024 that dramatically expanded when someone needs a Federal Firearms License. The rule clarified that if you’re selling guns “to predominantly earn a profit,” you need a license – whether you’re selling at gun shows, online, or at flea markets. Under the new rule, even a single transaction can require a license if the facts show you’re in the business. However, a federal judge in Texas blocked the rule in June 2024 for Texas, Louisiana, Utah, and Mississippi – so enforcement varies by location.
Defenses That Actually Work
The strongest defense is proving you were selling from your personal collection, not buying guns for resale. If you collected firearms as a hobby over many years and you’re now downsizing your collection, that’s not dealing without a license – even if you sell 50 guns. The key is showing you didn’t buy those guns with the intent to resell them for profit.
Documentation helps tremendously. If you kept records showing when you bought each firearm, how long you owned it, why you’re selling now – that supports a personal collection defense. Frequency and profit margin matter too. Occasional sales at or below what you paid don’t look like a business.
Most of these cases come down to witness testimony and circumstantial evidence about your intent. ATF agents testify about how dealers operate, they compare your conduct to licensed dealers. Your defense has to show the jury or judge that you honestly believed you were making private sales from your collection.
What Happens If You’re Convicted
Unlicensed dealing under 18 USC 922(a)(1)(A) carries up to five years in federal prison and fines up to $250,000. Most defendants don’t get the maximum, but federal sentencing guidelines drive the sentence based on how many firearms were involved, whether prohibited persons bought any of the guns, whether guns were traced to crimes.
If even one gun you sold was used in a violent crime, your sentence increases substantially. If you sold to someone you knew was prohibited from owning firearms – a felon, someone with a domestic violence conviction, a drug user – that’s a separate charge under 18 USC 922(d) with additional prison time. The cases I mentioned show the range of sentences – four years for selling 1,300 firearms, thirty-three months for selling two dozen guns including machine gun parts, up to five years for the Dallas gun show dealers.
Beyond prison time, a conviction means you can never possess firearms again. You lose your Second Amendment rights permanently. If you held an FFL for anything else, you lose that. The collateral consequences of a federal firearms conviction are severe – much more severe than state gun charges in most cases.
Why These Cases Are Being Prosecuted More Aggressively
ATF and DOJ announced in 2024 that prosecutions for unlicensed dealing increased 52 percent since 2021. The Biden administration directed ATF to crack down on gun shows and online sales, the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act gave them new tools, and the April 2024 rule gave them a broader interpretation of “engaged in the business.” However, the Trump administration announced in April 2025 that ATF is ending its zero-tolerance policy for gun dealer violations – meaning fewer prosecutions going forward, though cases already charged are still moving through the courts.
If ATF is investigating you or if you’ve already been charged with unlicensed dealing, time matters. We need to get ahead of the government’s case, document your intent and your sales history, identify weaknesses in their evidence. These cases are winnable – but not if you wait until trial to start building your defense.