After four years in which the Biden administration waged a legal and regulatory war on responsible gun owners nationwide, Second Amendment advocates have reason to be excited with Donald Trump back in the White House.
Pro-Second Amendment organizations, including the National Rifle Association (NRA) and Gun Owners of America (GOA), have rightly called Trump’s comeback last November a major victory for gun owners. Randy Kozuch, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, has said that under Trump, “gun owners across the country will once again have a strong advocate for their Second Amendment rights in the White House.” Aidan Johnston, the director of federal affairs for GOA, believes that “the Second Amendment was on the ballot and the Second Amendment won. The American people clearly elected a pro-gun presidential ticket.”
During his 2024 campaign, Trump was quite clear that not only would he undo the Biden-Harris gun-control agenda, he would also enact further protections for responsible gun owners. Trump told thousands of NRA members and visitors during his visit to the 2024 Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that he would ensure “no one will lay a finger on your firearms.”
Trump has specifically promised that during his second term he will work toward establishing “national concealed carry reciprocity,” which would allow Americans with concealed carry permits to carry their sidearm in all 50 states, even those that currently do not honor out-of-state permits.
Trump also pledged during his 2024 campaign to nominate a pro-Second Amendment attorney general “who will stop the weaponization of government against lawful gun ownership and who will prioritize traditional law enforcement by catching and punishing criminals.”
On this front, it’s more of a “wait and see” for gun owners. Several Second Amendment groups have raised concerns about the record of Pam Bondi, who was just confirmed at attorney general. But Bondi stressed during her Senate confirmation hearing that she would work to defend the Second Amendment.
Notably, other Trump nominees like Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, have a strong record of support for the Second Amendment, with Patel receiving an endorsement from GOA.
But Bondi, Patel, and anyone else Trump appoints will almost certainly be more friendly to gun owners than Biden administration officials who led a crusade to dismantle the Second Amendment for four years. As AMAC Newsline has previously reported, a key player in that effort was Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris. After Biden’s gun control efforts stalled at the federal level, the Biden Justice Department even released “model legislation” instructing states on how to erode Second Amendment freedoms.
Steve Dettelbach, Biden’s head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) emerged as another prominent anti-gun figure. Despite displaying complete ignorance of basic information regarding firearms, Dettelbach’s agency rewrote federal firearms regulations to target gun owners, leading to a flurry of lawsuits.
Biden himself stated in his 2023 State of the Union Address that he was proud to fight the NRA, calling on Congress to grant him more power to seize Americans’ firearms. “I’m proud we beat the NRA when I signed the most significant gun safety law in nearly 30 years because of this Congress,” Biden said, “We now must beat the NRA again. I’m demanding a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Pass universal background checks.”
Of course, by “assault weapons” and “high-capacity magazines,” Biden meant all semi-automatic firearms, including those commonly used for hunting and self-defense.
Now, gun-owning Americans can expect a return to the friendly policies seen during Trump’s first term. From 2017-2021, federal agencies reversed many of the Obama-era gun regulations and ended Obama administration lawsuits against gun owners and gun manufacturers. Amy Swearer, Senior Legal Fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, analyzed that, “In his first term, President Trump largely lived up to his promise to protect Americans’ Second Amendment rights.”
Trump also came up huge for gun owners by appointing three originalist judges to the Supreme Court who are committed to defending the Second Amendment. The Court’s 6-3 conservative majority, anchored by Trump’s picks, delivered a significant Second Amendment victory in New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen, in which the Court struck down a New York law requiring applicants for a concealed carry license to show “proper cause” for needing a firearm. In effect, this ruling meant that “may-issue” systems that use “arbitrary” evaluations of the need to carry a firearm are unconstitutional – expanding access to concealed carry opportunities for law-abiding Americans in anti-gun states.
Trump’s first term did, however, create some moments of tension with gun owners. Following the tragic 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, Trump ordered the ATF to enforce an executive order banning bump stocks, later struck down by the Supreme Court. In the wake of the 2018 Parkland School shooting, Trump also called for stricter gun legislation. After the 2019 mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Trump likewise reiterated his support for the controversial “red flag” laws and strengthening background checks.
But overall Trump remained a staunch defender of Second Amendment freedoms throughout his first term, and gun owners can expect more of the same over the next four years.
Hunter Oswald is a Research Fellow for The American Spectator. He is an alum of Grove City College, where he graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. in Political Science. You can follow him on X @HunterOswald8.
We will have to wait and see what this administration will do and can do in support of the 2nd amendment. Meanwhile, keep stocking up on supplies and ammo if Non supporters regain the WH and the Congress in the future. Be prepared for anything.
The Biden administration wanted to make sheep of American citizens. Take away their guns let in 20 million foreigners with guns to control the masses. The word freedom they equated with their freedom to control us. We only have to look to Margaret Brennan to know the mindset of the progressives. Free speech is dangerous. The right to bear arms must be stricken from the constitution if progressives have their way. How else are they going to get total control over the people. They tried hard with the PLAN DEMIC and almost made it. The people voted for Trump, for freedom of speech and for the second amendment. It will take diligence of all Americans to keep it that way.
There is an expectation that a Supreme Court decision will come within a few months/ years to settle all questions of confirming the “shall not be infringed “ guarantee of the 2nd.
The right to self-defense against despotic governments or tyrants is tied to the assumption that a human life has value.
The SCOTUS must acknowledge this simple reality.
If they do then protecting the Second Amendment will be clearly defined so we the people can protect the First.
A well-written balanced article; especially the ambivalence of Pam Bondi. Second to last paragraph on Trump spotlights a weakness. it’s easy to be pro-second amendment until there is a shooting. A person’s adherence to the 2nd Amendment is then revealed–do you attack the 2nd amendment or the shooters and the psychotic drugs influencing them. Listen carefully to the prescription drugs advertised on TV and you will notice many of them describe suicidal reactions from the “medications”. The media does not touch the issue when a mass shooting ends in suicide.
Second Amendment gives freedom of Americas to defend our rights
I’m not so stoic to not listen to rational discussion. I’m all for keeping a gun from a dangerous person but these red flag laws or “strengthened laws” better be the result of due process (and the right to redress in court) and not infringe on legal owners (my) right to bear arms. I don’t know exactly how Trump will react (again) to a “newsworthy” shooting story but I do know how current Democrat leadership (David Hoag) would!
Kind of ironic undoing the Biden-Harris gun-control agenda, being as Hunter Biden was convicted by a jury of lying about his drug use to illegally buy a gun (then got pardoned for who knows what else).
Words are insufficient to express my elation over Trump’s dramatic win. We were so dangerously close to the demonicrat goal of destroying America, the Second Amendment is one of their principal obstacles. Trump’s first go-round was lacking the recognition he has now, of the evils of governmental control. We have a different creature in the Captain’s chair today, Thank all that’s good and merciful!
Excellent article. Thanks
My drivers license that was issued in Connecticut authorizes me to drive any car in any state. However, my carry permit only allows me to carry in Connecticut. I could carry in another state IF I apply for a permit in that state and pay more money $$.
If I accidentally cross my state border into an adjacent state while carrying and I don’t have that State’s endorsement, I will be subject to arrest and prosecution and probably jail time.
The politicians fear that the gun carriers will turn their guns on them when they get fed up with their BS.
Every upper level politician has armed bodyguards assigned to them because they know how dangerous it can be while they are out in the public.
But, they would deny us, the legal carriers, that right or protection.
A criminal could care less about the rules and regulations imposed by politicians but if more people carried, the criminal element would think twice before they opened fire on a group of strabgers.
President Trump will not Destroy The 2A.
Trump is a Constitutional President,that’s why he won over the Biden Adminstration ILK!
I’ve always found it ironic when gun-control advocates start loudly demanding laws to ‘outlaw’ this or that to do with gun ownership/use. When will they acknowledge those laws will affect honest, law-abiding gun owners but not the criminals and crazies who commit crimes that advocates then use to fire up the anti-2nd Amendment again? Do they not know that criminals do not abide by the law?
The other irony they will not acknowledge is that those states that allow open and/or concealed carry have less crime. Law enforcement needs to be strengthened to deal with criminals. But blue states/cities have downsized their police depts and crime has increased. Did they honestly believe it would be less? As the more popular phrase says, “common sense went out the window” in blue state governments…and in gun-control advocates.
Too many people have a simple and basic misunderstanding about “gun control.” “Gun control” is not now, and has never been, about crime, criminals, or public safety. Quite frankly, the Left couldn’t give a rat’s behind about crime, criminals, or public safety. Gun control is, and has always been, about disarming the citizenry so they cannot represent a threat to the government once the Left establishes the dictatorship they have been working toward since the 1960s and, thanks to the stolen elections of November 2020, January 2021, and November 2022, are now in the process of consolidating. The key word in the term “gun control” is not “gun” – it is “control.”
A quick study of basic world history will show that one of the first actions taken by every Communist government upon their takeover was to go to all of the local police stations, get the lists of gun owners, and then go door to door and disarm everyone. That is why the Communists – er, I mean the Democrats – want a national gun registry. Is there really anyone at this point in time who still does not understand this?
And by the way, it is way beyond disingenuous that the Left always speaks of “we need gun control” as if there were currently no laws concerning firearms. There are now more than 24,000 gun control laws in effect at the federal, state, and local levels in this nation. Every conceivable aspect of firearm purchase, ownership, and use is covered dozens of times over. Firearms are by far the single most regulated and restricted consumer product in this nation. The only ones who are impacted by all these laws, however, are the law-abiding, which of course is the goal. Criminals very rarely (check the FBI data on this) even attempt to obtain firearms through legal channels, and are thus unaffected by “gun control.” As I stated above, “gun control” has nothing to do with crime or criminals.
And finally, for more than 40 years now, I have been asking a very simple question: Where, in the wording of The Second Amendment, is there any provision for, or even the suggestion of, restrictions, limitations, or exceptions? Answer: There is none. What that means is that every one of those more than 24,000 gun control laws currently on the books is unconstitutional, Court decisions to the contrary notwithstanding.
Personally, I doubt the majority of Americans own or even care about gun legislation. And those of us who own guns probably couldn’t come up with a valid reason why we do. I have a shotgun for home protection. At least that’s why I have a shotgun. I also have a 45, (2) 9mm and a 22 handguns. I have a concealed carry permit. Why, because I like shooting guns and the permit makes it easier to transport them to the range and back. I also own a Corvette that spends most of it life in my garage. We have guns and corvettes because we like guns and corvettes and there’s no valid reason why those of us who want to own guns and corvettes can’t. But I will say this, any 14 year old who shoots some one needs to do hard jail time. This kids do no harm thing is wrong and something does need to be done about that. Kids with guns kill people….they do it because they can get away with it.
More govt cuts, more fraud exposed, scrapped Dept Educartion & IRS
Tariff taxes
Scrap Income & SS taxes
While the 2nd amendment doesn’t mean much to me personally I’m all for those who are responding gun owners like my father was. I’m sick of the woke democrats who blame responsible gun owners when there’s a school shooting , night club or senseless act of violence with a gun. How about those who sell the guns do a better job weeding out those who want a gun to be more vigilant instead of making a profit. And go after those who steel from these gun shops, homes etc. I literate my support for 2nd amendment and the government needs to leave these people the hell alone!!
It has been sadly interesting for years that opponents of the 2nd never organize a repeal (which would fail) and instead unconstitutionally infringe on our rights.
The devil’s in the details! Although I agree that national reciprocity for permit holders is great, the original intent of the Second Amendment didn’t require a permit to carry your arms across state lines for personal protection. Additionally, it’s reasonable to assume a tyrannical government would consider any permit holder a gun owner and collect a database of those owners for future consideration. National reciprocity legislation should include measures to prevent this data collection.
Keep your eyes and mind wide open to this type of tyranny.
In Michigan, I have to pay more for my application fee, safety course, and fingerprinting, then I paid for my Taurus G2C…. AND… it expires every 5 years if I don’t send them another $115 ! This pretty much guarantees that lower income Americans cannot afford to have a CPL in Michigan!!! What a CROCK!
Red Flag laws seem to me to allow anyone with a gripe against another to report them to whoever you report to. Not a good idea.
The “elites” [so-called] want us deplorables to be unarmed and weak so that their favored classes [illegal immigrants and criminals] can have free rein in the country. Of course, “elite” leaders still keep THEIR guns and/or security guards. After all, they are better than us peasants! [TFIC]
I am so elated that we now have a real president back in the White House. I hope he will continue to defend and protect our second amendment rights as American citizens. I live in a state still fully entrenched by communist/democrat politicians. They want nothing more than to take our firearms and second amendment rights completely away. They continue to pass legislation that chips away at gun ownership with more taxes, requirements, registrations, bans on certain types of firearms, etc. Unfortunately we live in an area of “educated free thinkers” and many people that have moved here from progressive states and brought their progressive thinking here and have made inroads into our political arena. This cancer keeps spreading across our great nation. Voting these people out is not easy when you have so many socialists concentrated into a high population area of the state where most of the votes come from. Let’s have laws that severely punish the criminals that commit a crime with a firearm and stop punishing the law abiding citizens. The fight for our nation is definitely not over!
It would be great to have a conceled carry permit that would allow responible gun owners to carry in all 50 states.
“The will of the people to possess firearms creates an equal balance between the people and the government.” This Thomas Jefferson wrote and it has proven to be true, worldwide. Also, any locale that have the freedom to possess firearms has a lot lower crime rate testified by our police departments. May we all continue to support (pray) for President Trump’s protection and success.
The one thing I would like to see is the ridiculous regulations on buying and owning suppressors. Noticed, i didn’t say “silencers”. The general population has been fooled by movies and television in thinking that these devices can truly make a firearm silent. They were invented by Hiram Maxim (sp) near the end of the 19th century and they were MUFFLERS for use on internal combustion engines and adapted for firearm use. Almost all rifle rounds exceed the speed of sound therefore they break the sound barrier causing a cracking sound. Bullwhip lashes break the sound barrier as well as helicopter blades that make the “wop, wop” sound. Feel free to look these facts up.
Suppressors are common use in Europe and Africa for both hunting and sport shooting. They reduce recoil as well as reducing the sound of firearms and put the sound farther away from the shooter. It is a health item, if you think it isn’t, look at the number of military members and law enforcement who have severe hearing loss thanks to not being provided with adequate hearing protection. Think about the magnification of sound when a LEO or a military member has to clear a room in a house and fire his weapon.
Yes we must wait and see. Who is chosen to head ATF will be telling. The ATF needs thorough renovation. Better yet would be to abolish it. Pam Bondi has shown willingess to cooperate with dems. Thats worrying because pro two a dems are now extinct leaving only prohibitionists.
I would prefer national constitutional carry as to reciprocity !
I’m not impressed with Trump’s record or his picks. The supreme court needs to strike down the NFA and declare unequivocally that the constitution means what it says, SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED! We’ll see.
Trump has owned handguns and had a New York City ‘red card’ license, a credential with the least restrictions that usually is limited to retired cops, judges, prosecutors, and grandee celebrities. His adult sons are hunters and target shooters who use politically incorrect disapproved of firearms. All hob nob with the NRA, which is admittedly flawed and impure but going back to 1871 has served as advocate lobby for the 2nd. A sharp and total contrast to Ole Shotgun Joe and Davey Hogg. So there is a good chance for the best outcome.
Rational gun control to me means only sane, law,abiding adults can buy/own firearms. Red flag laws can reduce the number violent, criminal or mentally ill individuals posessing guns. Sellers at gun shows should be subject to the same regulations as other gun dealers closing the gap of background checks. Modification of seni to full automatic weapons should only be permitted if the owner possesses a federal license for a machine gun. Since the only rationale for owning a “bullet hose” ia just for the fun of it, and not for sporting/hunting, the huge cost make people think twice.