Washington DC - Mere days after a shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, the Trump administration announced on Wednesday that it will roll back gun regulations.
"This Department of Justice is taking unprecedented action to defend the Second Amendment rights of Americans," Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced in a post to X on Wednesday.
"Today, we are announcing regulatory reforms to… gun rules, which protect public safety, while not infringing on one's right to bear arms," he wrote in reference to rules overseen by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
"While the previous administration did everything it could to restrict the constitutional rights of American citizens, this administration is restoring them."
As part of a sweeping collection of 34 planned changes, the Trump administration will rescind a Biden-era regulation, introduced in 2024, that sought to end the so-called "gun show loophole."
The regulation sought to close an exemption that allowed unlicensed dealers to sell firearms without performing a background check. Additionally, the DOJ plans to rescind a 2023 rule restricting pistol braces.
Trump administration criticized for scrapping "common-sense" gun laws
In a press release, the ATF called the new rules "an effort to reduce unnecessary burdens on law-abiding citizens and businesses while modernizing regulatory frameworks that no longer reflect current law, agency practice, or court precedent."
The move comes less than a week after an attempted attack on the White House Correspondents' Dinner saw President Donald Trump and other government officials evacuated by the Secret Service.
"Four days after the nation watched gunfire break out at the White House correspondents' dinner, the Trump administration's answer is to gut common-sense gun safety laws and sabotage the only federal agency dedicated to keeping guns out of criminal hands," said Everytown for Gun Safety president John Feinblatt.