Gun rights groups see 'golden age' under Trump administration

A detailed view of a hat that reads, God Guns and Trump is seen at a campaign event for U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, a Republican from Louisiana, at Bourne's Restaurant on May 6, 2026 in Franklinton, La. Gun rights groups see 'golden age' under the Trump administration's second term. Tyler Kaufman/Getty Images hide caption

The president, his allies and Justice Department leaders say they're the most pro-gun presidency in modern American history. Many in the gun industry tend to agree with them.

John Commerford, executive director for the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action, said that the organization views it as the "golden age of the Second Amendment" under Trump.

Commerford spoke to NPR after several recent actions on gun rules taken by the Justice Department.

Just four days after the gunman attack at the White House Correspondents Dinner, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced a series of changes to repeal or alter existing firearms regulations. He was joined by Robert Cekada, newly confirmed as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

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"The Second Amendment will never be treated as a second-class right in the Trump administration," Blanche said during the roll out. "The Second Amendment is not negotiable."

The two were flanked by a host of representatives from the gun industry, including from the NRA and Gun Owners of America.

Cekada and Blanche said the new regulations would ease burdens for the firearms industry and lawful gun owners.

The 34 proposed changes – published recently in the Federal Register – seem largely focused on reducing paperwork or formalizing the end to rules that have already been effectively blocked by courts.

Yet they mark the clearest sign yet that the administration is using powers within the DOJ to align itself, and federal regulations, with the wishes of the gun rights movement.

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"ATF's mission is to protect public safety and enforce the law – and these reforms reflect our commitment to doing that through regulations that are clear, legally sound, and narrowly tailored to that purpose," Cekada said.

Robert Cekada, the newly-confirmed director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, at his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Feb. 4, 2026 in Washington, DC. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/Getty Images North America hide caption

Lawsuits against states' firearm rules

The federal government generally only sets the floor for firearm use and transactions, regulating issues such as background checks, barring most felons from having guns, and establishing rules for dealer licenses. That means most rules that affect individuals' ability to carry guns in public, for example, are set by individual states.

But the Trump administration recently has also started to pursue lawsuits against states that set heavier restrictions on firearms.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger recently signed a bill banning the sale of assault weapons, alongside a package of other gun safety laws – to which Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said, "see you in court."

And earlier this month, DOJ, via Dhillon's Second Amendment Enforcement Task Force, sued Colorado , alleging that the state unconstitutionally bans larger-capacity magazines for rifles. The day before, the DOJ sued Denver over its assault weapons ban.

Gun control advocates worry about those lawsuits and the recent changes to federal regulations.

Of particular concern are the rules that unravel Biden-era regulations like the restriction on pistol-stabilizing braces. This accessory attaches to the end of a pistol, making shooting more accurate and allowing users to fire the gun like a rifle. In 2021, a gunman used the accessory to kill 10 people at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colo. The rule went into effect in 2023, requiring owners of these braces to destroy them or register their braced guns with the ATF. This, too, was previously blocked by the courts.

"There's no public safety argument that can possibly be made for why you would want to eliminate the regulation of stabilizing braces. Because literally, if you buy that product and put it on a pistol, it becomes a short-barreled rifle. And the purpose of that is mass killing," said Kris Brown, president of Brady, a non-profit gun control advocacy group.

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"You cannot be tough on crime and support the deregulation of stabilizing braces. Full stop. And that's really an analogy for the rest of [the regulations] we see here."

In a preemptive response to criticism, Cekada said during the press conference: "I've been a law enforcement officer for over 34 years. I would never let the public be at risk based on the regulations that we are proposing today."

How things have changed

The administration's actions add to a slate of gun-friendly policies out of Congress and the courts.

"We're winning on all fronts," said Aidan Johnston, director of federal affairs for the Gun Owners of America.

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He ticked off examples such as the Supreme Court's 2022 decision in the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. It overturned New York State's strict limits on who could carry a gun outside their home, setting off a wave of challenges to similar state restrictions.

Then Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year on a Republican-only vote, which eliminated an old $200 National Firearms Act tax for silencers, short-barreled rifles and other weapons. The tax was meant to serve as a financial deterrent on these highly lethal weapons when it was established in 1934. (The cost of the levy had not changed since it was established).

"Then, you have the administration purporting to be the most pro-Second Amendment in U.S. history. So I think we've got all three branches of government right now where we're progressing," Johnston said.

The administration's deregulatory push comes as deaths from firearms continue to be a major cause of death in the U.S., and the leading cause of death for those who are 1 to 19. Around 44,000 people – adults and children – died of gun-related injuries in the U.S. in 2024, according to the Pew Research Center, which analyzed the latest available figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While the overall number of gun deaths, — most of which were suicides — fell for the third consecutive year, it was still among the highest annual total on record, according to Pew.

Nearly every week has its own example of a mass shooting in the U.S. Recently, a man with a history of violence fired 50 to 60 rounds from an assault-style rifle into cars and at pedestrians, in Cambridge, Mass., an area with some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. Two people were critically injured, according to WBUR.

And last month, a father in Shreveport, La., allegedly killed eight children , including seven of his own, and shot and injured two women.

But those incidents did not ignite the usual calls for changes to American gun laws that usually follow such violent attacks.

Congress last passed major gun legislation in 2022 with the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, considered to be the most sweeping legislation on firearms in decades. The ATF is now working to unravel some of those changes.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, said in a statement that Democrats would continue pushing for "universal background checks, safe storage, and red flag laws," which he said "have overwhelming support from Americans on both sides of the aisle and will remain a top priority once we take back the majority."

A customer browses as firearms are displayed for sale in a gun store in Rio Rico, Santa Cruz County, Arizona on Sept.17, 2025. Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images/AFP hide caption

A divided public

But with Congress as contentious and narrowly split as it is, "There is no expectation that we will see any new gun laws anytime soon," said Robert Spitzer, a distinguished service professor emeritus of political science at SUNY Cortland and an expert on gun policy.

"We are very much at a crossroads with respect to gun policy in America," Spitzer said, adding that that comes despite public support for most proposed gun restrictions.

From the other side, Johnston, with Gun Owners of America, said he's seen a shift among Americans' views on gun control that make it less of a "winning issue" in elections.

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