Trump Administration Scraps 36-Plus Gun Rules, Loosening Sales Oversight and Restoring Some Mental-Health Rights
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 5
Trump Administration Scraps 36-Plus Gun Rules, Loosening Sales Oversight and Restoring Some Mental-Health Rights
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 5
Summary
More than three dozen firearms regulations are being rolled back, including measures targeting illegal gun sales, oversight of private weapons transactions and restrictions affecting some people with mental illness.
The retrenchment at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives aligns with Trump’s gun-rights campaign pledges and industry demands to ease regulatory burdens, reversing several Biden-era actions.
Critics, including some former A.T.F. officials and gun-control advocates, say the changes weaken public safety and further erode the agency’s enforcement capacity as hundreds of personnel have already been shifted to immigration duties.
The rollback reopens a sharp policy divide after Biden signed gun-control legislation following mass shootings, undoing part of the most significant federal tightening in nearly 30 years.