About 19 million people in the US have thought about shooting someone in their lifetime: Study

What's next:

The proposed rule is still in a public comment period that closes in early August. If approved, it may not take effect until late this year or early next year.

Safety concerns

The other side:

Some gun shop owners and gun control advocates find themselves on the same side, as both have brought up safety concerns about the new rule.

Marianna Mitchem, a senior firearms industry advisor at Everytown for Gun Safety who worked at ATF for more than 20 years, said gun stores play a big role in vetting potential gun owners.

 ATF always says the gun store is the first line of defense in gun safety,  Mitchem told Reuters.  But now they are flipping it. 

Gun control groups say the rule would make it easier to traffick illegal guns and allow for straw purchases, or when someone buys a gun for someone else who's not allowed to own one.

 Even with the most robust ​virtual sales and background check process, there is no way for a gun store that is selling a gun over the internet to know if the person making the purchase is funneling the firearms to others,  ​Giffords spokesperson Aneesa McMillan said in a statement.

ATF's Leider argued that the online verification ​system is more secure than traditional retail.

 The people who are concerned about this being susceptible to straw purchases have an idealized view of what an in-store purchase is,  Leider said.

Trump Jr. and the  Amazon of guns' would make millions

Dig deeper:

The new rule could make millions for Donald Trump Jr. and the online gun retailer GrabAGun, known as the  Amazon of guns.  Trump Jr. is a GrabAGun board member and owns more than 300,000 shares in the company.

Donald Trump Jr., son of former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, holds a shotgun at Tombstone Tactical gun store in Phoenix, Arizona, on October 23, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca NOBLE / AFP) Expand

Trump Jr. became the face of GrabAGun last year, helping to take it public through a special purpose acquisition company merger that netted $119 million.

Both Trump Jr. and GrabAGun said they weren't aware of the proposal before it was released, though GrabAGun's CEO touted the new policy in a May news release.