What's in the Trump administration's "tsunami" of gun deregulation
Article excerpt
The Trump administration is executing what officials call a 'tsunami' of gun deregulation, the broadest firearm rollback in years. The measures would allow Americans to ship handguns through the mail, dismantle Biden-era background check rules, and raise the bar for revoking gun dealer licenses. The initiative reflects the administration's stated commitment to curtailing what it views as excessive federal gun restrictions, reshaping firearms policy across multiple agencies in ways that gun rights advocates have long sought but that gun control groups warn could increase access for dangerous individuals.
The Trump administration is undertaking the broadest firearm deregulation in years, a sweeping rollback that would let Americans ship handguns in the mail, gut Biden-era background check rules and make it harder to yank a gun dealer's license.
Why it matters: The effect critics fear is more guns moving with less federal scrutiny under the proposed dismantling of a 1927 criminal statute and dozens of newer rules, including President Biden's effort to close the so-called gun show loophole.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives argues the proposed changes reduce burdens on gun owners without undermining law enforcement.
But gun violence prevention advocates stress the rollbacks benefit the gun industry at the expense of public safety.
Driving the news: In late April, the ATF unveiled nearly three dozen final and proposed rules it pitched as "modernizing" regulations.
In 2024, Biden's ATF used the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act's expanded definition of who counts as a gun dealer to issue a rule aimed at closing the "gun show loophole." Just around two years later, Trump's ATF wants to scrap it.
"This is, to us, absolutely the gun industry's wish list," says Kris Brown, the president of Brady: United Against Gun Violence, who noted industry leaders were present when the proposals were announced.
Yes, but: A recent investigation from The Trace of cases in which prosecutors charged people for dealing firearms without a license found that the Biden-era rule didn't meaningfully enhance enforcement.
Zoom out: Other proposed changes would make it easier to transport firearms, remove the mandate that licensed sellers provide youth handgun safety notices, and clarify standards in ways that critics say will make it harder to revoke dealers' licenses.
Separately, the U.S. Postal Service is proposing allowing people to mail handguns under the same rules as lawful rifles and shotguns after the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel concluded earlier this year that the roughly century-old ban was unconstitutional.
The ban creates a "massive and needless headaches for law-abiding gun owners," the National Rifle Association's lobbying arm argues. But opponents argue the change could increase the risk of firearms being stolen, skirt background checks and state law, and embolden traffickers.
The fine print: The ATF acknowledged in its own proposal that some changes could endanger people.
In a proposed rule narrowing who is mentally unfit to have a gun, ATF notes, "This risk may be minimal, or may be considerably greater (up to and including potential mass casualty events)."
"They know it raises the risk of mass shootings. They know that violent crime is likely to go up. They know it's going to hinder law enforcement, and they do it anyway," Brown tells Axios.
Reality check: The policy shift isn't a huge surprise, says Joseph Blocher, Duke University's faculty director of the Center for Firearms Law.
But it's also a "major, major, major pivot from what we saw from '21 through '25."
What they're saying: Gun industry and Second Amendment advocates celebrated the long-sought changes. Lawrence G. Keane, the National Sports Shooting Foundation senior vice president, described the regulatory rollback as "the dawning of a new era."
ATF says the changes follow President Trump's order to reexamine regulations and were not made to please the gun lobby.
"The repeal of the regulation has no effect on the scope of the law and signals that ATF will abide by the laws enacted by Congress," an agency spokesperson said in a statement to Axios.
The other side: Daniel Webster, a professor at Johns Hopkins' Center for Gun Violence Solutions, argues the proposed rules favor the gun industry over public safety.
"This is a green light to the segment of the gun industry that profits from crime and gun violence," he says.
Webster said the changes align with the DOJ's goal of shrinking the team of inspectors who monitor licensed dealers.
The bottom line: The exact impact of the proposals and their final forms are yet to be seen, but opponents say they amount to a tsunami of deregulation.
But Brown's prediction is grim: "We think it is going to be the worst delivery of regression in the history of the country in terms of gun violence prevention."
Go deeper: HHS drops surgeon general's advisory on gun violence