Nowhere is the difference between the Biden Administration and that of Donald J. Trump in starker contrast than its approach to firearms and the Second Amendment to our Bill of Rights.
The former President’s belief that the right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed in that Amendment needed to be trimmed back was on display throughout his term in office. Biden even established in 2023 an office in the White House itself to identify and manage gun control policy actions -- the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. While this office, ostensibly under the leadership of Vice President Kamala Harris, did nothing of actual substance during its short life span, it did serve to highlight the anti-Second Amendment mindset prevailing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Trump on the other hand, being an avid supporter of the Second Amendment, quickly upon assuming office directed new Attorney General Pam Bondi to undertake an immediate and comprehensive study of all steps taken by the Biden Administration that have the effect of infringing the Second Amendment -- a road map for corrective actions over the next four years.
To further illustrate his bona fides as a pro-Second Amendment President, Trump appointed Dave Warrington, a well-known firearms-rights advocate to serve as a presidential advisor in the White House.
Trump’s break from Biden’s consistently displayed disdain for the firearms rights of law abiding citizens has been complete. Even among Republican administrations, the speed of Trump’s pro-Second Amendment policies has been unprecedented.
For example, it took five years before former President George W. Bush marshalled the courage to finally agree in 2005 to support and sign the "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act" -- a law that simply provided to firearms-related businesses the same protection from lawsuits alleging misuse of a lawful product already historically available to other lawfully manufactured products such as automobiles.
President Trump, on the other hand, within days of being sworn into office signaled his open and tangible support for the lawful manufacture, sale, possession, and use of firearms.
Trump’s pick for FBI Director, Kash Patel, is a well-known supporter of the Second Amendment. He will play a key role in demonstrating that support as the nation’s top law enforcement official, especially considering it is the FBI that maintains the database for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
Gun control advocates have long pushed for expansion of NICS into a “universal background check” that would apply to all manner of private firearms transfers between private citizens, and not as between licensed firearms retailers (so-called “FFLs”) and consumers, as is now the case under the NICS law that has been in effect since the late 1990s.
Gun control advocates, including “GIFFORDS” are lobbying hard against Patel’s confirmation, but Trump has signaled unwavering support for the nominee, and even Washington-centric media rate his chance of confirmation as high.
Biden’s underhanded policy of reducing the number of firearms retailers by attacking them for alleged violations of regulatory paperwork requirements by Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), has come to a screeching halt in the new administration.
The list of Trump’s actions in support of gun rights is long indeed, even publicly criticizing financial institutions that have in recent years made it difficult for firearms businesses to use their services.
There is, of course, more to be done if the right to keep and bear arms is truly and in fact protected as a “privilege or immunity of citizens of the United States” by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and thereby no longer subject to the many government restrictions limiting its exercise by states such as New York, New Jersey, and California.
If during his second term, President Trump is able to appoint one or more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court in the vein of a Clarence Thomas or the late Antonin Scalia, we Americans might finally and at long last enjoy the nationwide right to keep and bear arms as envisioned by our Founders.
Bob Barr represented Georgia’s Seventh District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. He served as the United States Attorney in Atlanta from 1986 to 1990 and was an official with the CIA in the 1970s. He now practices law in Atlanta, Georgia and serves as President of the National Rifle Association.