The second Trump Administration has thus far exceeded all expectations when it comes to its nearly unprecedented defense of the Second Amendment. While Trump’s first term gave us hugely important wins on judicial appointments at SCOTUS and the lower courts, that was just about all we got.
This term has been much different. We are still getting good judicial picks, but are also making so much more progress beyond that baseline. This has been the first time any Department of Justice has meaningfully championed the Second Amendment since the days of the Freedmen’s Bureau during Reconstruction.
Given that, it makes sense to maintain a list summarizing the Trump Administration’s actions related to gun rights. I’ll do my best to keep this updated, but if you can think of important things I missed, please list them in the comments below.
General News
1. President Trump issues an executive order to defend the Second Amendment and directing further action.
2. Robert Leider selected as General Counsel for ATF.
3. Harmeet K. Dhillon selected as AAG for Civil Rights.
4. Second Amendment Section of the DOJ Civil Rights Division established.
5. US concedes in US v. Peterson that suppressors enjoy some degree of Second Amendment protection and may not be totally banned (an important concession to be used in states with total bans).
6. “Big Beautiful Bill” zeroes the tax on suppressors and SBRs, though registration requirement remains. ATF manages the application surge smoothly.
7. Department of Veterans Affairs ceases reporting veterans to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System as “prohibited persons” only because they need help from a fiduciary in managing their VA benefits.
8. Robert Cekada confirmed as ATF director:
9. During congressional testimony, Cekada confirms the Second Amendment exists for anti-tyranny purposes.
10. Barry Arrington joins Civil Rights Division, heading up the Second Amendment section.
11. DOJ says the ban on mailing concealable firearms is unconstitutional.
12. Justice Department opens investigation of Philadelphia Police Department’s allegedly unconstitutional permit revocation practices.
13. A number of judges have been confirmed to lower courts, including Emil Bove and Jennifer Mascott in the Third Circuit, both of whom played a role in securing the first circuit court win on “assault weapon” and magazine bans.
14. After losing NFA consolidated cases of Silencer Shop v. ATF and Jensen v. ATF, the DOJ decided against appealing the loss, meaning the registration requirements are unenforceable against the Plaintiffs in the case. But questions remain as of August 13, 2026.
Civil Rights Lawsuits
1. Sued Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department over its years-long wait times for carry permits. They cited SAF’s lawsuit in their initial pattern-or-practice investigation too.
2. Sued US Virgin Islands over unconstitutional gun permit denials.
3. Sued the District of Columbia over its “assault weapons” ban.
4. Sued Denver over its AWB.
5. Sued Colorado over its mag ban.
6. Earlier DC lawsuit amended to include suppressor claim.
7. Sued California over its GLOCK ban and handgun roster.
8. Sued Virginia over its AWB.
9. Sued Montgomery County, Maryland over sensitive places including churches, parks, and libraries as well as 100 yard buffer zones.
Proposed Rulemaking
1. Massive rights restoration process in the works. While imperfect (SAF submitted a comment letter), it’s probably the biggest step forward on this front we’ve yet to see. However, as of August, 2026, still no final rule.
2. ATF rule proposed to tighten up the definition of “unlawful user of a controlled substance.” This will help plenty of casual drug users, as well as people who the government can’t prove are anything but casual users.
3. Repealed “zero tolerance” policy.
4. A variety of smaller changes listed here.
5. A packiage of reforms announced on April 29, 2026.
Text of proposed rules here.
SAF summary thread here.
Amicus Briefs Filed by the US in Favor of the Second Amendment
1. Two briefs in Wolford. The first of which was likely why the case got cert despite its preliminary injunction posture:
3. They filed an amicus brief in Rhode, the California ammunition background check case. They also participated in oral argument.
4. They filed an amicus brief in Granata v. Campbell, a challenge to the Massachusetts handgun roster. Will also argue in Granata.
Things we’re NOT happy with:
(NOTE: while I list defense of certain federal laws here as a negative, note that it shouldn’t be surprising.)
1. Their ongoing defense of the NFA. Update as of August 13, 2026: According to Rep. Clyde, DOJ will no longer defend the NFA’s registration requirements. Many questions to be answered, however.
2. They also defend other laws too like the Gun free School Zones Act, even as applied to those walking around their own front yard or only just slightly off of it.
4. Scope of relief issue. Relief should not be limited to only those who are members of the association at the time a lawsuit was filed, as the government now argues. That would break the whole point of associational standing and force us to do costly class actions instead. Fortunately, it seems DOJ has backed off of this extreme position, albeit with some pressure from the courts.
5. Rushing Hemani and its bad facts to the front of the line of marijuana cases (though this one ended up working out for us with a great ruling from SCOTUS).
6. President Trump’s poor comments following the Alex Pretti shooting. Ditto a couple other admin officials like former DHS Secretary Noem.
7. Benson betrayal: DOJ (Jeannine Pirro) filed a brief urging the DC Court of Appeals to grant rehearing en banc. This is another one that seems to have ended up OK, thanks to the Third Circuit giving us a circuit split anyway. But it was still a needless error.
Kostas Moros is Director of Legal Research and Education for the Second Amendment Foundation.
Regarding Pretti, treating active LE operations as something civilians can safely disrupt is just full retard. Democrat politicians and their PR arm in the media begged for this to happen, and they loved it as soon as it did. Notice how they show no outrage when their broken brain assassins come for LE or Trump. We all saw the Dem mindset after they took out Charlie. Modern Dems are either out of touch with reality due to the propaganda or they’re subhuman.
Amazing, all of this fuss over one(1) sentence containing only 27 words.
If the government had stuck to its constitutional enumerated powers and not perverted the power to tax and the commerce clause there would be no ‘regulation’ of firearms because the government does not have a constitutional enumerated power to ‘regulate or create laws to regulate’ anything to do with a constitutional right and that includes firearms.