Despite committee votes, resolutions and fiery speeches, pro-gun rights lawmakers last Congress were stymied when it came to rolling back Biden-era firearm regulations.
House Republicans voted to overturn a rule that cracked down on firearms with stabilizing braces, only to have Senate Democrats reject the effort. One long-shot bill to abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives never made it out of committee. And although the House proposed policy riders in funding legislation attacking firearm regulations, those provisions were not included in a package negotiated with Democrats.
Now, with control over Congress and the White House, Republicans are well positioned to spike Biden gun regulations and exert their will over the agency tasked with regulating firearm dealers that has long been a target of conservative ire.
Rep. Robert B. Aderholt, R-Ala., a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said former President Joe Biden was not going to sign an appropriations bill with certain language that went after his own administration’s gun rules.
“We don’t have that issue this time,” Aderholt said. “I think it’s very ripe that we can get some of that language this time.”
The Trump administration is angling for change on its own. An executive order from Trump this month stated that the Second Amendment “is an indispensable safeguard of security and liberty” and ordered the attorney general to examine all orders and regulations of executive departments to “assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens.” The order also instructed the attorney general to present a “proposed plan of action.”
Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Wisconsin Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said he sees a role for Congress in going after Biden regulations.
“I don’t think we should make the administration do all the heavy lifting here,” he said, mentioning the Congressional Review Act, a tool that allows Congress to overturn federal agency rules.
Joint resolutions of disapproval under the CRA can pass both chambers with a simple majority and can avoid a filibuster in the Senate, leaving Democrats without a procedural tool to stop them.
There will be multiple avenues for GOP lawmakers to shape firearm policy over the next two years, whether it’s rolling back gun regulations, implementing gun-owner-friendly measures or shaping the funding level of the ATF. In particular, Republicans could include policy riders in government funding legislation that prohibits money from being used to enforce gun regulations.
So far this session, GOP lawmakers have filed a range of firearm-related bills, such as legislation to abolish the ATF and another measure that would prohibit federal department or agency funding from going toward providing states assistance in the implementation of “red flag” laws. Those laws, in general, allow a court to temporarily forbid an individual from having a gun if they are believed to present a risk to themselves or others.
Dozens of Republican senators pointed to Trump’s executive order in a letter last week as they asked the ATF to rescind several rules rolled out under the Biden administration. The Biden administration pushed for tougher gun regulations to address what it called an epidemic of gun violence, an issue underscored by repeated, high-profile mass shootings that have happened over the past 25 years.
“We urge you to immediately align ATF’s rules and policies with the President’s strong support for the Second Amendment,” the senators wrote.
Among the Biden measures highlighted by the GOP senators was one that toughens regulations on firearms with stabilizing braces. Regulators had acted on brace-equipped firearms after the devices were used in multiple mass shootings.
Democrats argued that the regulation was needed to stop more deaths and said the rule would help protect the public from dangerous weapons that are more concealable than long guns. Republicans argued that the rule would violate Second Amendment rights and expose unknowing gun owners to criminal liability.
The senators pointed to another rule that they said was an “unconstitutional attempt to move ATF to do all it can to impose universal background checks on law-abiding Americans.”
Acting ATF director
Some Republicans are also welcoming the appointment of FBI Director Kash Patel as the acting director of the ATF. The appointment represents a portfolio expansion for Patel, a steadfast Trump ally who survived a contentious confirmation process for the FBI role amid criticism that he had never led a large-scale law enforcement organization.
“I think it’s great,” said House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, commenting on Patel’s acting director role. Jordan has been a repeated critic of Biden administration gun rules, and last Congress he proposed an appropriations policy rider to block funding from being used to implement the rule regarding firearms with stabilizing braces.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said the Patel appointment was an effort to relegate the importance of ATF’s work.
“[It] seems like when they want to neutralize a department or agency, they give it as a moonlighting job for someone who has another big institutional responsibility,” Raskin said. “So the appointment itself does not speak well for their commitment to the work of the ATF.”
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