Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and newly confirmed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Director Robert Cekada unveiled a package of 34 proposed and final rules Wednesday to scale back and revise Biden-era gun regulations.
Mr. Blanche said the package “reduces unnecessary burdens on lawful gun owners and licensed businesses, it eliminates ambiguity, and it helps prevent the kind of confusion that, in the past, and not that distant past, led to inconsistent and sometimes unfair enforcement.”
“The Second Amendment is not a second-class right,” Mr. Blanche said. “This Department of Justice is ending the weaponization of federal authority against law-abiding gun owners. We will continue to vigorously defend their rights as the Constitution demands.”
Among the actions are a repeal of the Biden administration’s rule that restricted pistol braces — a regulation that has been struck down in federal court. Mr. Blanche and Mr. Cekada, whom the Senate confirmed Wednesday, said the new rules also will help gun sellers follow the law more easily, in part by clarifying the definition of licensed sellers.
The new package aligns with Supreme Court precedent to streamline guidelines in a way that is clearer for firearm owners to understand and follow, Mr. Blanche said.
Included in the package is a rule to end the enhanced regulatory enforcement policy that targeted firearms dealers. Federal Firearm Licensed dealers whose licenses were revoked or surrendered under that policy may reapply under the new policy.
The ATF is also revising the definition of “engaged in the business” of dealing in firearms. The text of the proposals will soon be published in the Federal Register.
“The rescinded changes have not produced the anticipated outcomes in terms of Federal Firearms License applications, administrative licensing actions, civil forfeitures, or other anticipated enforcement metrics,” the ATF stated.
The ATF is also removing two sentences from its three regulatory definitions of “machine gun” that previously incorporated bump stocks into those definitions.
This action responds directly to the 2024 Supreme Court’s decision in Garland v. Cargill, which held that semiautomatic rifles equipped with bump stocks do not satisfy the statutory definition of “machine gun” under the National Firearms Act.
The ATF also is issuing a final rule to amend its National Firearms Act regulations to reflect changes in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act to reduce the tax remittance rate for certain NFA firearms.
