While the Trump Administration is beginning to reverse some of the most egregious Biden-era attacks on the Second Amendment through executive action, Republicans in Congress are doing little more than waving from the sidelines — and gun owners across America have had enough.
With the ATF walking back some rules and a constitutionalist trajectory reshaping the Department of Justice, there’s no question the Executive Branch is doing more for gun rights than Congress.
But that’s also the problem.
Executive orders can be undone with a pen stroke. Without hard legislative victories, the Second Amendment remains dangerously vulnerable.
Missed Opportunity — and a Dangerous Future
By failing to pass the HPA and SHORT Act in reconciliation with the One Big Beautiful Bill recently, Congress now faces an even steeper climb.
Any future effort to ease gun control will require a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate — a near impossibility. Republicans wasted the best opportunity in a decade to eliminate suppressor and SBR regulations with a simple majority vote.
Perhaps that’s why Congress has left other critical reforms to rot: national constitutional carry has languished and the bill to abolish the ATF has been ignored entirely.
Now there’s a growing threat: DOJ’s discussions about merging the ATF with the DEA could give birth to the most bloated, dangerous federal gun enforcement agency in American history — an alphabet soup monster with broader jurisdiction, greater funding, and even less oversight.
“Gun owners don’t want ‘reform, and they certainly don’t want an empowered ATF,’” Texas Gun Rights president Chris McNutt warned. “They want abolition. The ATF shouldn’t exist. And the fact that Republicans aren’t fighting to shut it down shows they’ve lost touch with the base.”
A Warning Ahead of 2026
As 2026 midterms approach, Republicans are walking into a political buzzsaw of their own making.
Grassroots gun owners — typically the most reliable conservative voters — are disillusioned. They’ve watched Republican lawmakers roll over and play dead while Trump’s DOJ carries all the weight of restoring Second Amendment rights.
McNutt put it bluntly: “Republicans made a fatal miscalculation. They thought gun owners would settle for temporary NFA tax relief. No, they want freedom. And without Congress acting, gun owners are left to hope a future administration doesn’t flip the NFA taxes back to $200 — or even $2,000.”
Gun owners are watching. They’re angry. And they’re making it clear: Executive action is no substitute for legislative backbone.
“Any future effort to ease gun control will require a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate — a near impossibility. Republicans wasted the best opportunity in a decade to eliminate suppressor and SBR regulations with a simple majority vote.”
Hmmm…. no. There’s this ‘simplistic’ view again.
The only way the republicans could have done this for the HPA and SHORT with a simple majority vote would have been to over rule/ignore/fire/dismiss the parliamentarian. If the republicans would have over ruled, ignored, fired/dismissed the parliamentarian for that it would have been disastrous for the future. Plus, an over rule of the parliamentarian to keep the HPA or SHORT in would have triggered a supermajotiy 60 vote anyway, its not as simple as the republicans just saying ‘yep, over ruled’ like people think – it would have required the senate, all the senate not just the majority party, to vote to sustain the over rule, it would have needed a supermajotiy 60 vote to sustain the over rule and the bill would have died and we would have ended up with nothing. It would have been different if this was done under relaxed adherence to the Byrd rule but it wasn’t – either party can legitimately demand strict adherence to the Byrd rule and that’s what the democrats did – an over rule would not have been necessary with relaxed adherence as the HPA/SHORT are tangentially related to budget/tax so likely would have passed parliamentarian muster leaving the democrats nothing to gripe about on those but under strict adherence its another matter.
Its a back door end run around the filibuster and lets the majority party in the senate pass what ever they want with a simple majority – to over rule/fire/dismiss the parliamentarian. If that precedent is set it means the democrats could do the same thing in the future then the republicans can do it then the democrats could do it etc…. This is why its euphemistically called the ‘Nuclear Option’, it ‘nukes’ (i.e. destroys) the filibuster (elimination of the filibuster in reconciliation bill proceedings). It would allow each party’s senate majority justification to use it and there would be this never ending thing of each party simply ignoring the Byrd rule and passing a bill with a simple majority. If the republicans would have voted to to reinstate sections that were scrapped (gun owners wanted the HPA and SHORT – the NFA stuff – to go back in) it would have been a disaster for gun owners in the future for the democrats to be able to pass something ‘gun’ with ‘reconciliation’ with a simple majority and you already know how that’s going to go.
“…in the future for the democrats to be able to pass something ‘gun’ with ‘reconciliation’ with a simple majority and you already know how that’s going to go.”
If we removed it with a majority, then they could reinstate it with a majority. Take advantage of the tax exemption when it’s available, and support the lawsuit. If it’s ruled unconstitutional, then it will be nearly impossible to bring it back as a law. This might be a blessing in disguise.
We have gotten so much farther because of the executive branch.
I don’t care about the Epstein list. That is a distraction.
There is photographic evidence of former president Bill Clinton being on the island. And getting a back rub from an underage girl. And he is not charged with anything!!!
Yes I know there are many who are hoping for some evidence of a christian republican, in pictures doing something. So far there is nothing.
The Diddy trial was also a distraction. And what about all the famous names that never came out in his court case???
Sez is being used as a distraction. And the libertarians will tell you there is no reason to vote. No reason to call your representatives. The only things the libertarians care about are legal b*tt sez and dr’gs. They would be very comfortable as slaves.
How many libertarians thought it was a waste of time to vote for Brandon Herrera, when he ran for congress this past election cycle???
He put out Sen John Thune’s office number.
202 224 2321
Have you called yet?? ?
We could have gotten what we wanted if WE had voted and gotten elected more MAGA republicans.
There are far too many libertarians and others riding in the wagon. Not helping and just b!tch ing.
While others are working pulling and pushing to get us all across the finish line.
There is no magic wand.
BREAKING NEWS: CRAZY 2ND AMENDMENT GUN OWNERSHIP CASE (6th circuit) DECIDED (firearms seized in 2017)!
The US Court of Appeals, 6th Circuit, has ruled in a case – Sheriff’s Department confiscated 14 guns in 2017 and has refused to return them to the owners.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS7VTta65O4
BREAKING NOW: SCOTUS Clears [Trump] Admin To SMOKE IRS By 40% | ATF & DEA Merger DOA | Lefties Heartbroken.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-IlMS0DzD4
Meme Maker’s Conviction Thrown Out in Free Speech Win.
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A man whom the Biden administration prosecuted over a satirical meme online just won a victory in court, as his outrageous and anti-constitutional conviction was thrown out.
Douglass Mackey announced on X on July 9, “BREAKING: THE SECOND CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS HAS THROWN OUT MY CONVICTION FOR LACK OF EVIDENCE[.] THE CASE HAS BEEN REMANDED TO THE DISTRICT COURT WITH ORDERS TO IMMEDIATELY DISMISS[.] HALLELUJAH!”
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Furthermore, Mackey is already excited to exercise his Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms once again, and he asked for help raising money to pay off his legal debts.
Mackey also linked to the court’s official decision, which states:
‘Defendant-Appellant Douglass Mackey (“Mackey”) appeals from a judgment of conviction entered on October 25, 2023 after a jury trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Donnelly, J.). Mackey was convicted of conspiring to injure citizens in the exercise of their right to vote in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 241 based on three memes he posted or reposted on Twitter shortly before the 2016 presidential election. These memes falsely suggested that supporters of then-candidate Hillary Clinton could vote by text message. On appeal, Mackey argues, inter alia, that the evidence was insufficient to prove that he knowingly agreed to join the charged conspiracy. We agree.’
The conviction is therefore reversed.
…”
https://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2025/07/09/meme-makers-conviction-thrown-out-in-free-speech-win-n4941580
The libertarians liberals and the left have never supported the 1st amendment.
Especially since they also supported the closing of churches in 2020. But yet allowed h0mosez ual pr!de and BLM parades to continue out in the open.