The Justice Department on October 9 filed notice that it will take a June 12, 2026 judgment and an August 13, 2026 order in Texas v. ATF to the Fifth Circuit, after earlier asking to drop an appeal once that court had granted a preliminary injunction. The notice identifies issues of plaintiff standing, whether dealer status requires profit or completed gun sales, and whether the entire ATF firearms-dealer rule should have been set aside.

Gun Owners of America said the same day that the department was appealing its victory over the Biden-era dealer rule and questioned why the fight continued after a campaign pledge to scrap it. ATF Director Robert Cekada said the government would drop extra presumptions, follow the definition Congress wrote, keep clarifying terms for purchases, sales, license wind-downs, and estate auctions, and drop treating leftover stock as forever commercial plus excluding self-defense guns from personal collections.