Trump rolls back gun rules, new ATF chief takes over to enforce shifts

Federal gun oversight was reset in one sweep as the Justice Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced 34 final and proposed rulemakings tied to President Donald Trump’s order on protecting Second Amendment rights. The package marked the latest and largest step in a 17-month rollback that the administration said was meant to cut burdens on law-abiding gun owners and businesses and bring federal rules back in line with current law and court precedent.

The sharpest change reaches directly into dealer oversight. One proposed repeal would unwind a 2024 Biden-era rule that expanded background-check requirements for some off-site gun sales, including transactions at gun shows, a move designed to close the so-called gun show loophole. If finalized, the change would give gun dealers more room to sell outside their usual storefronts without the same federal check requirements that Biden officials imposed, while gun buyers at those venues would face fewer federal hurdles. Gun-rights groups and Republican-led states had challenged the Biden rule in court, arguing the administration had overstepped its authority.

The rollback arrived as Robert Cekada, a career ATF official and longtime law enforcement officer, took command of the agency. The Senate confirmed him on April 29, 2026, and he was sworn in the next day, making him only the third person ever confirmed to lead ATF since the director post became Senate-confirmable in 2006. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche called the package the “most comprehensive regulatory reform package in the history” of ATF, while the administration framed the changes as a practical shift toward enforcement that targets “willful violators and criminal actors, not inadvertent compliance issues.”

Trump’s political promise to gun owners has now become agency policy. He told supporters in 2024 that no one would “lay a finger” on their firearms if he returned to office, and his first year back has brought executive actions, funding shifts and rule changes that gun-rights allies describe as an unprecedented pro-Second Amendment turn.

Public-safety advocates say the consequences are likely to show up first where federal oversight meets ordinary sales and routine compliance. Everytown for Gun Safety president John Feinblatt said the administration was gutting commonsense gun safety laws and weakening the federal agency charged with keeping guns out of criminal hands. The immediate test will be whether looser dealer oversight and a narrower ATF enforcement posture produce more room for lawful commerce, or more openings for guns to move with less federal scrutiny.