Members’ Newsletter: What Happened to Trump’s Gun Policy Review?

It has been practically two months since President Donald Trump ordered the Division of Justice to assessment all of its gun insurance policies and give you a plan to doubtlessly reverse them.

However, regardless of blowing previous a 30-day deadline, there’s nonetheless no report, not to mention concrete motion, on the areas the division was presupposed to assessment. Contributing Author Jake Fogleman takes a take a look at what has and hasn’t been carried out on weapons thus far.

Then, I take a look at the sweeping new tariffs introduced this week and the way they may influence the gun trade. Whereas firearms manufacturing is sort of robust in America, imported weapons and ammo are extremely standard. Provided that even American makers use parts and uncooked supplies from exterior the US, gun and ammo costs are more likely to rise.

Plus, gun-rights lawyer Alan Beck joins the podcast to debate the historical past round Individuals underneath 21 shopping for weapons. Keep tuned, too, as a result of we’ll be publishing an in-depth written piece from Beck on the identical subject this week.

Evaluation: The place Is the DOJ’s Second Modification Report? [Member Exclusive]By Jake Fogleman

On February seventh, President Donald Trump gave Legal professional Normal Pam Bondi 30 days to finalize and submit a coverage plan of motion for enacting pro-gun reforms. Almost two months later, the Trump Administration hasn’t launched any plan.

“Inside 30 days of the date of this order, the Legal professional Normal shall study all orders, rules, steering, 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, via the Home Coverage Advisor, to guard the Second Modification rights of all Individuals,” the order acknowledged.

The 30-day due date for that report would have been March ninth, however that day got here and went with none motion from Bondi or the White Home. When this omission bought some consideration, the Division of Justice (DOJ) instructed ABC Information that the deadline was prolonged to March sixteenth. Since then, the division has not offered any extra progress updates and didn’t reply to a request for remark for this text.

The administration’s obvious slow-walking and opacity surrounding its progress raises questions on how a lot it plans to comply with via with the order’s proposed scope.

Trump promised gun voters swift motion in undoing all of President Biden’s gun-control achievements throughout his “very first week again in workplace.” However he took three weeks earlier than even broaching the topic, and solely ordered a assessment to ultimately take into account which, if any, of his predecessor’s insurance policies to reform or reverse.

To this point, that has not resulted within the initiation of any new rulemaking to repeal any Biden-era rules.

The few concrete indications of DOJ compliance with the order have largely taken the type of requests for pauses in varied ongoing gun circumstances to permit it to contemplate what place it needs to take. The division additionally started to push for a brand new framework for restoring the gun rights of former convicts. The New York Instances has reported that transfer may gain advantage actor Mel Gibson and not less than 9 different as-yet-undisclosed people, although they haven’t introduced any motion but.

Whereas every of these fronts could ultimately play out in gun-rights advocates’ favor, the administration’s restrained method, particularly in distinction to actions it has taken elsewhere, has already resulted in a single important loss for gun-rights teams. Although it might have instantly began rolling again Biden’s gun guidelines with out Bondi’s assessment as an intermediate step, the Trump Administration’s choice to attend left the “ghost gun” package ban case uninterrupted. That culminated within the Supreme Courtroom issuing a 7-2 ruling upholding that ban on the finish of final month, which might make undoing the ban down the road tougher.

Delaying authorized challenges whereas the division decides what place to take additionally dangers drawing out the gun-rights motion’s longer-term mission of stacking up court docket choices completely invalidating federal gun legal guidelines. Even when the DOJ decides to not defend a given gun regulation or de-prioritize enforcement, subsequent administrations can merely reverse that discretion. The identical holds true for the brand new gun-rights restoration course of, which dangers undermining gun-rights advocates’ authorized challenges to the federal ban on non-violent felons possessing firearms.

To make sure, the administration has additionally supplied gun voters coverage modifications with extra easy upsides. It unceremoniously allotted with the White Home Workplace of Gun Violence Prevention, for instance, which was arrange by former President Biden to advertise gun-control insurance policies. Trump’s Division of Well being and Human Providers additionally scrapped a 2024 surgeon common advisory calling for an “assault weapon” ban, amongst different new gun restrictions.

It has additionally, at occasions, broadened its view past the federally-focused government order. As an illustration, the DOJ final month introduced a civil rights investigation into Los Angeles County over its follow of subjecting hid carry allow candidates to prolonged wait occasions and excessive utility charges, and it prompt that extra investigations might quickly comply with. Shortly thereafter, Trump additionally issued a separate government order establishing a brand new federal process pressure charged with, amongst different issues, “increas[ing] the velocity and decrease[ing] the price of processing hid carry license requests within the District of Columbia.”

These strikes have little question been welcome developments for Second Modification advocates. Nonetheless, they’re much less doubtlessly impactful than the areas Trump ordered the DOJ to assessment, and people have seen little to no motion.

Podcast: May Individuals Below 21 Purchase Weapons on the Founding? (Ft. Gun Lawyer Alan Beck) [Member Early Access]By Stephen Gutowski

This week, we’re doing a deep dive into the historical past surrounding Individuals underneath 21 shopping for weapons.

That’s why we’ve bought gun-rights lawyer Alan Beck on the present. He’s at present representing a shopper who’s combating Hawaii’s age restrictions. Within the wake of the Eleventh Circuit upholding Florida’s gun gross sales ban for these underneath 21 by pointing to how contract regulation restricted the identical age group’s capacity to purchase weapons, he researched the query.

He argues the proof contradicts the Eleventh Circuit’s holding. He stated rulings from the Founding Period counsel these underneath 21 couldn’t enter into contracts for issues that weren’t requirements, however that was truly a reasonably broad exception. He stated most weapons would have been thought-about requirements as a result of they had been wanted to hunt, carry out mandated militia service, and supply for common safety.

Beck additionally gave a working-lawyers view of the Supreme Courtroom’s Second Modification jurisprudence and the place it’s headed. He described the main points of his newest case on the Excessive Courtroom and what the cert utility course of is like.

You possibly can take heed to the present in your favourite podcasting app or by clicking right here. Video of the episode can be accessible on our YouTube channel. An auto-generated transcript is out there right here. Reload Members get entry on Sunday, as all the time. Everybody else can hear on Monday.

Get a 30-day free trial for a subscription to The Dispatch by clicking right here.

Plus, Contributing Author Jake Fogleman and I talk about the potential fallout from President Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement on the gun and ammunition market. We discuss why the potential price will increase come at a precarious time for an trade already dealing with some headwinds, together with one other month of declining gun gross sales based mostly on newly launched figures. We additionally talk about dueling rulings in Pennsylvania and Illinois state courts on whether or not main gun firms may be sued for crimes dedicated by third events with their merchandise.

Audio right here. Video right here.

Evaluation: Trump’s Tariffs May Hit Gun Trade Onerous [Member Exclusive]By Stephen Gutowski

The gun trade is among the few vivid spots in American manufacturing, however that doesn’t imply it’s invulnerable to new tariffs.

Whereas many storied firearms manufacturers are American and nonetheless produce their merchandise in America, imported weapons and ammunition are additionally clearly standard. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) most up-to-date knowledge reveals American producers produced 171,810,319 firearms from 2000 via 2023. The identical numbers present Individuals imported one other 93,355,557 weapons. American producers additionally exported 9,409,676 firearms over that point.

ATF knowledge on ammunition manufacturing and importing tells an analogous story. Whereas the numbers aren’t as exact, American makers produce a lot of the ammunition for the home market–although a Czech firm simply purchased one of many largest American ammo producers. However imports have provided an enormous chunk of the ammunition market as nicely. Between 2010 and 2020, the ATF experiences Individuals imported greater than 26 billion rounds of ammunition.

The Nationwide Taking pictures Sports activities Basis, the trade’s commerce group, estimates firearm and ammunition manufacturing employed 13,400 workers and created $5.8 billion in items shipped throughout 2022. It stated it doesn’t have rapid numbers on precisely how the broad-ranging tariffs would possibly influence the gun trade. However it stated it’s researching that query.

“We wouldn’t have any knowledge on the influence of the tariffs right now,” Matt Manda, a spokesman for the group, instructed The Reload. “NSSF goes to guage the tariffs within the coming days and listen to from trade members.”

After all, American producers additionally use uncooked supplies that always come from abroad. The weapons and ammo they export will doubtless face new hostility in international markets as different international locations retaliate with their very own new tariffs. So, the influence is more likely to be noticeable by each the producers and shoppers–particularly on among the hottest manufacturers.

Austria, residence of Glock, is within the European Union. So, it’ll be hit with a 20 % tariff. Brazil, residence of Taurus, will get a ten % tariff. Turkey, residence of Canik, will get 10 % as nicely.

That’s all earlier than you take into account firearms components or equipment, akin to crimson dot sights. Lots of these are made in China, which is getting a 34 % tariff added on prime of the 20 % tariff Trump imposed earlier this 12 months. So, costs on all kinds of gun equipment will doubtless climb, too.

These worth hikes will come because the gun trade heads into unsure territory. Many within the trade already count on lighter demand as a result of President Donald Trump’s election is more likely to mood fears amongst his supporters that new gun restrictions will come anytime quickly. The gun market has been trying to find a brand new gross sales flooring ever for the reason that record-highs of 2020, and the primary quarter of 2025 has solely delivered additional drops in demand.

February fell 9 % year-over-year and 11.8 % from 2020. March was down 3.8 % year-over-year and 32.2 % in comparison with 2020. Each months got here in beneath a number of of their pre-pandemic predecessors as nicely.

The inventory market isn’t hopeful in regards to the gun trade both. Smith and Wesson’s inventory is down 16 % over the past month. Ruger’s is down 2.85 %. Ammo Inc has misplaced 9.46 % of its worth.

The gun trade manufactures extra of its merchandise within the US than many others. Nevertheless, imports and exports are very important to the trade’s backside line. So, it’s more likely to get hit onerous by these new tariffs on prime of managing the already daunting prospect of a years-long interval of slumping demand.

That’s it for now.

I’ll discuss to you all once more quickly.

Go Birds,Stephen GutowskiFounderThe Reload