We’re supposed to be a nation of laws, not a nation of men. No one is supposed to be above the law, and no one is supposed to be able to create laws with the stroke of a pen. Our Founding Fathers knew monarchies and wanted no part of them.

Yet, generations since then have decided bureaucracies are the way to go. Now, the rules people have to live by can change overnight without any lawmakers getting a vote. That just happened, and it’s a gun control measure.

The Justice Department on Monday announced a new federal gun control rule aimed at ensuring gun owners have secure storage devices.

Under the new rule, federally approved gun sellers will be required to have gun storage or safety devices available onsite for potential buyers as required by the Gun Control Act.

According to the department, a secure gun storage device is defined as “a safe, gun safe, gun case, lock box or other device that is designed to be or can be used to store a firearm and that is designed to be unlocked only by means of a key, a combination or other similar means.”

The department submitted the rule to the Federal Register. If approved, the change will amend the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ gun regulations and go into effect on Feb. 3.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said the change is meant “to reduce the risk of firearms falling into the wrong hands.”

“Gun safety is a Department of Justice priority, and we will continue to take all appropriate steps to help reduce the number of people killed and injured by the misuse of firearms,” Mr. Garland said in a statement.

Now, for new guns, this isn’t a big deal. New guns pretty much all come with gun locks, which should qualify under the regulation.

But the problem is that many gun stores sell used guns, which means they have to also have some means of gun storage on-site regardless of what comes with new firearms.

That means already limited inventory space is going to have to be filled with expensive and often unnecessary gun storage options. After all, not only do many gun owners already have some way to secure their guns, they can also get gun locks from most law enforcement agencies if they want one at no cost.

So now, with this new rule, gun stores are going to have to scramble to order new inventory – even as inflation and supply chain issues may make those items harder to get – to comply with federal regulations.

For many, this may not look much like gun control, but it is. It’s an attempt to tell those who sell guns what else they must sell. It’s little different than the law in New Jersey that says gun stores will have to have a smart gun model available for sale.

Look, I get that not everyone secures their guns the way some would like. However, you’re deluding yourself if you think the reason they’re not doing that is that they’re somehow unaware of storage options or where to find them.

Garland and his DOJ can’t be stupid enough to think otherwise, so why issue this? Because it’s gun control they can do.

The Biden administration has been getting heat following the Oxford shooting for not doing anything to address what happened. The problem is, there’s not much they can actually do. So, they do this so they can pretend they’re dealing with the problem.

The fact that this also punishes gun stores, which the Biden administration has been gunning for since day one, is likely what they would consider as something of a bonus.

It ain’t.