The Trump administration is triggering widespread hysteria among legacy media outlets with its agenda to roll back gun regulations.
According to recent reports, the administration has announced a sweeping rollback of more than 30 firearms regulations, including measures that would abandon crackdowns on illegal sales, restore gun rights for some individuals with mental health conditions, and loosen oversight of private weapons transactions.
These rollbacks are expected to “let Americans ship handguns in the mail, gut Biden-era background check rules, and make it harder to revoke a gun dealer’s license,” officials stated.
The changes have been in motion during the administration’s second term. In April, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) announced reforms designed to “reduce burdens on law-abiding gun owners and businesses.” An ATF spokesperson emphasized that the shift focuses on “willful violators and criminal actors, not inadvertent compliance issues by responsible owners and licensees.”
The proposed changes include streamlining forms for easier compliance and reversing a ban on “non-lethal training ammunition and dual-use barrels.”
Some of these regulations are direct reversals of Biden-era policies.
Kris Brown, a spokesperson from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, described the policy shifts as “taking us back 100 years” and said they “are really decimating ATF’s ability to regulate this industry… This is, to us, absolutely the gun industry’s wish list.”
However, the administration contends that these changes free up resources for the ATF to target real criminals. In a recent press release, the ATF reported significant gains since shifting enforcement priorities in 2025 toward violent crime, transnational criminal organizations, and illegal firearms trafficking.
The agency noted substantial increases in criminal referrals and charges compared to 2024. For instance:
– Straw purchasing referrals increased by 182%
– Firearms trafficking referrals rose 129%
– False statements under relevant laws climbed 135%
Roughly a quarter of all ATF-initiated violent crime cases involve investigating firearms trafficking to Mexico.
The administration’s policy also aims to revise the definition of who is legally classified as mentally unfit to own firearms. Under current law, the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA) prohibits anyone “who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution” from possessing guns.
The ATF argues that its current definitions are too broad and include individuals with isolated functional deficits—such as those unable to manage government benefits. The new rule would clarify that such individuals do not qualify as mentally defective.
Additionally, the U.S. Postal Service has proposed allowing people to mail handguns under the same rules as rifles and shotguns after the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel concluded that a century-old ban was unconstitutional.
Critics argue that the role of federal entities in interpreting gun laws is problematic. They stress that such regulations should be decided by elected representatives, not by agencies with potential constitutional overreach.
The administration has also targeted anti-gun regulations in Democratic strongholds. Recent actions include challenging bans on semiautomatic rifles in Colorado, the District of Columbia, and Virginia, as well as suing California for restrictions on Glock-style handguns and Virginia for limits on semiautomatic rifles.
Despite decades of political efforts to convince Americans that more gun regulations are necessary, the public’s preference for gun ownership remains strong. Surveys indicate that up to half of U.S. households own firearms, and 500 million guns are in civilian hands.
Paul Dragu, a senior editor at The New American and award-winning reporter, notes: “Any citizen who lives in a country that won’t allow him or her lethal means of self-defense lives in a state of tyranny. Self-defense falls under the umbrella of the right to life.”