Trump Orders Review of Federal Gun Policy

President Donald Trump has directed his administration to search for and probably undo federal rules which will violate the Second Modification.

On Friday, Trump issued a brand new government order requiring newly confirmed Legal professional Common Pam Bondi to dig by means of company guidelines and insurance policies, searching for any that may improperly limit gun rights. He put a selected emphasis on company guidelines implementing new gun restrictions throughout the Biden Administration, reminiscent of these added by the ATF. He gave Bondi a month to finish the evaluate and left it to her to determine the small print of which insurance policies to roll again and the way to take action.

“Inside 30 days of the date of this order, the Legal professional Common shall look at all orders, rules, steerage, plans, worldwide agreements, and different actions of government departments and companies (companies) to evaluate any ongoing infringements of the Second Modification rights of our residents, and current a proposed plan of motion to the President, by means of the Home Coverage Advisor, to guard the Second Modification rights of all Individuals,” the order stated.

The order is the primary direct motion Trump has taken on gun coverage since coming again into workplace. It may fulfill his marketing campaign promise to undo a lot of Former President Biden’s gun actions–although not on the timeline he initially stated. Nonetheless, the order leaves it to AG Bondi to place meat on the bone. Which will concern some gun-rights advocates who’ve been skeptical of her appointment given her background of supporting stricter gun rules, reminiscent of “Purple Flag” legal guidelines and age restrictions on gun gross sales.

“Upon submission of the proposed plan of motion described in part 2 of this order, the Legal professional Common shall work with the Home Coverage Advisor to finalize the plan of motion and set up a course of for implementation,” the order stated.

Nonetheless, gun-rights teams have been broadly constructive of their preliminary response to the order.

“Guarantees made to law-abiding gun house owners are being stored by President Donald J. Trump,” Doug Hamlin, NRA Govt Vice President, stated in an announcement.

“Gun house owners fought onerous to elect a president who would take a sledgehammer to Biden’s unconstitutional gun management insurance policies, and at this time, President Trump proved he’s critical about that struggle,” Aidan Johnston, Gun Homeowners of America’s Director of Federal Affairs, stated regardless of the group’s opposition to Bondi’s affirmation.

Gun-control teams had the other, although extra muted, response.

“Didn’t Trump simply promise the president of Mexico that he would clamp down on gun trafficking?” Brady PAC posted, referencing Trump’s deal to forestall a commerce battle earlier this month. “Tonight, he issued an order that will in all probability do the precise reverse and put extra lives in danger.”

“Donald Trump waited till Friday evening to difficulty an Govt Order rolling again lifesaving gun measures as a result of he is aware of it will likely be extremely unpopular,” Giffords posted.

Trump particularly directed Bondi to look into a number of the prime complaints gun-rights activists and trade members have had over the previous 4 years. She is meant to evaluate “all Presidential and companies’ actions from January 2021 by means of January 2025 that purport to advertise security however could have impinged on the Second Modification rights of law-abiding residents.” That features “Guidelines promulgated by the Division of Justice, together with by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.”

Among the many most distinguished ATF guidelines from the Biden Administration are ones that successfully ban the sale of unfinished firearm elements and pistol-braced weapons, in addition to one which curtails the flexibility of these with out supplier licenses to promote used weapons. The federal courts have blocked implementation of most of these guidelines within the years for the reason that Biden Administration finalized them. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court docket is at the moment contemplating the legality of the unfinished elements rule and appeared to lean towards upholding it throughout oral arguments final fall.

The order additionally directs Bondi to rethink the ATF’s “zero tolerance” coverage for regulating licensed gun sellers. The Biden Administration applied that rule, but it surely has remained in impact throughout the early days of the Trump Administration–a lot to the chagrin of the gun trade.

It then orders a evaluate of stories and paperwork from the Biden-created White Home Workplace of Gun Violence Prevention, the federal government’s place in gun-rights litigation, how companies have labeled totally different firearms and ammunition, in addition to software processing for making, transferring, or exporting firearms.

In all, the record of areas to evaluate consists of almost each high-level precedence for the gun-rights motion and gun trade. Nonetheless, the order doesn’t essentially require the AG to do something particularly; it leaves the plan for motion as much as her and Home Coverage Advisor Vince Haley.

Trump stated within the order the evaluate is important to guard Individuals’ Second Modification rights.

“The Second Modification is an indispensable safeguard of safety and liberty,” the order stated. “It has preserved the suitable of the American individuals to guard ourselves, our households, and our freedoms for the reason that founding of our nice Nation. As a result of it’s foundational to sustaining all different rights held by Individuals, the suitable to maintain and bear arms should not be infringed.”

UPDATE 2-7-2025 6:35 PM EASTERN: This piece has been up to date with additional particulars about Trump’s government order.