Attorney General Pam Bondi begins dismantling Biden-era gun policies
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Monday that she would rescind a Biden-era gun policy that yanked licenses from federally licensed firearm dealers if they intentionally falsified records or sold weapons without running a background check.
The policy — known as the “zero-tolerance” policy — was viewed by conservatives as a punitive rule that stripped law-abiding gun sellers of their licenses for making simple mistakes on forms. But Biden administration officials said the rule was intended to crack down on “rogue gun dealers.” They said it specifies that officials would only revoke licenses if sellers committed willful violations of the federal Gun Control Act, not for paperwork errors.
Trump administration officials also said Monday in a news release that they plan to examine the framework of two other Biden-era gun regulations: One that required more checks on people who purchase stabilizing braces — an accessory that effectively transforms pistols into more deadly rifles — and another that required more sellers to get federal licenses and conduct background checks.
Conservative groups have pushed for the rollback of these regulations and President Donald Trump has said the administration of President Joe Biden trampled on Second Amendment rights. In February, Trump issued an executive order that called on the attorney general to review the Biden-era regulations and current legal positions in ongoing cases, giving the Justice Department the green light to rescind the regulations.
The Monday announcement from the Justice Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reflects a concrete step from the Trump administration to loosen gun regulations.
“This Department of Justice believes that the 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right,” Bondi said in the statement. “The prior administration’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ policy unfairly targeted law-abiding gun owners and created an undue burden on Americans seeking to exercise their constitutional right to bear arms — it ends today.”
According to ATF, more than 132,000 people and businesses have federal licenses that allow them to sell and manufacture firearms. Since the “zero-tolerance” policy was enacted in 2021, the agency’s records show that 1,059 sellers — or fewer than 1% of license holders — failed their inspections and qualified to lose their licenses.
Of those sellers, 415 had a hearing and were able to keep their licenses. In all, nearly 650 people or businesses lost or voluntarily gave up their licenses after failing an inspection between July 2021 and December 2024.
Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America, an influential gun rights group, celebrated the announcement rescinding the “zero-tolerance” policy.
“For years, the Zero Tolerance Policy has been a tool of political retribution — targeting gun stores and Americans who were simply trying to exercise their rights,” Pratt said in a statement.
Emma Brown, executive director of the gun control advocacy group Giffords, said eliminating the policy would make the country less safe.
“The impact here is simple: putting gun dealers who break the law back in business will increase crime,” Brown said in a statement. “Reckless dealers who are willing to sell guns to traffickers and criminals have been given our president’s seal of approval at the cost of Americans’ safety.”
The rules that Bondi targeted were all crafted by ATF, which is part of the Justice Department and is responsible for regulating the sale and licensing of firearms based on laws passed by Congress and working with local law enforcement to solve gun crimes.
A Biden-era ATF rule requiring serial numbers and background checks for ghost guns was upheld last month by the Supreme Court. The Justice Department has declined to comment on whether it will keep the regulation in place.
ATF is a relatively small law-enforcement entity of 5,000 people that has grown into a political juggernaut, touted by Democrats as critical to combating gun violence and accused by Republicans of trying to overregulate firearms.
Conservatives have pushed for Trump to weaken ATF, but the president has not yet announced a plan for the agency. He has also not nominated a permanent director for the agency, instead naming FBI Director Kash Patel to simultaneously lead the FBI and serve as interim ATF director.
The Washington Post reported that Patel had been to ATF headquarters one time and has had scant communication with the agency’s career staffers.
The Justice Department is circulating a proposal to merge the agency with the Drug Enforcement Administration — a move that ATF supporters fear would weaken it and strip it of resources. The Trump administration has already said that it would shift 150 ATF agents to work on border-related duties.