Justice Department and ATF Announce 34 Rulemaking Notices on Firearm Regulations

The Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives are releasing 34 notices of final and proposed rulemaking this week. The notices follow a comprehensive review of existing regulations conducted under an executive order from February 2025 that directed officials to examine agency actions for potential infringements on Second Amendment rights.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department is ending the weaponization of federal authority against law-abiding gun owners. The executive order required the Attorney General to present a proposed plan of action to protect those rights.

Administrative rule changes cannot repeal statutes such as the National Firearms Act. They can, however, alter how laws are interpreted and enforced, affecting the regulatory burden on gun owners and firearms dealers.

One proposed change would allow individuals to resume purchasing firearms with attached stabilizing braces as was done prior to a 2023 final rule. The revision applies as long as the firearm is not intended to be fired from the shoulder and does not meet the statutory definition of a firearm under the National Firearms Act.

Another adjustment would set a retention period for firearms dealers' sales records at either 20 or 30 years. Officials described the period as a balance between the cost of maintaining older records and the interest in tracing crime guns.

Import Rules will be updated to align with legislation that reduced the transfer and making tax on silencers, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns and any other weapons to $0. The $200 tax would apply only to machine guns and destructive devices.

Federal firearms licensees would be permitted to import frames, receivers or barrels that may be used on both sporting and non-sporting firearms. Additional changes would remove language defining bump stocks as machine guns and clarify the definition of being engaged in the business of selling firearms.

Individuals would also be allowed to transport affected National Firearms Act firearms across state lines for periods up to 365 days without prior written approval from the Director. The proposed rule changes that require it will undergo a public comment period before final implementation.

Gun control advocacy group Giffords stated that the actions will make it easier for people to commit gun crimes while making it harder for law enforcement to solve them. In response, the Second Amendment Foundation said there is still a long way to go to eliminate burdens on gun-owning Americans but described the changes as a step in the right direction.