President Trump signed his first pro-gun related Executive Order on Feb. 7, directing newly confirmed Attorney General Pam Bondi to examine within 30 days all “orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements, and other actions of executive departments and agencies” to determine any “ongoing infringements” of the Second Amendment, and present a plan to him on how to protect gun rights.
The order includes actions taken by agencies during President Biden’s tenure that “purport to promote safety, but may have impinged on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.” It also focuses on changing how firearms and ammunition are classified, any positions taken by the U.S. in ongoing or potential court cases on the issue, efforts to step up regulatory enforcement of gun laws, and the processing of applications to make, manufacture, transfer, or export firearms.
Some of President Biden’s evidence-based policies to reduce gun violence, now in danger of being eliminated, include regulations on ghost guns, expanded background checks on gun sales, and tougher regulatory oversight of lawbreaking gun dealers. Trump also dismantled America’s first-ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention immediately upon taking office.
Predictably, Trump’s action was applauded by the NRA, which stated “Promises made to law-abiding gun owners are being kept by President Donald J. Trump.” The order follows a campaign in which Trump said he was proud of the fact that he “did nothing” in response to mass shootings and promised gun-rights groups that he would undo “every single Biden attack on gun owners and manufacturers.”
Jeremy Stein, Executive Director of States United to Prevent Gun Violence, said, “Guns are the number one cause of death of children in America. It is clear that Trump’s oath to protect the American people from all enemies foreign and domestic, is less important to him than his vow to protect the NRA.”
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