On Monday, the era of Joe Biden will end. After 50-plus years in politics — a career that saw his stances evolve from pro-gun to one of the staunchest agitators for reform — the president will hand leadership of the United States back to Donald Trump. The country will take a new shape. While it’s impossible to predict what that will actually look like, it does not exactly bode well for federal firearm safety efforts, many of which were put in place via executive order, though some advocates are hopeful that national concern over gun violence will help preserve some of Biden’s policies. As The Trace’s Jennifer Mascia and Chip Brownlee reported, however, Trump’s gun policy priorities include many of the National Rifle Association’s longtime goals.
But the incoming Trump administration will also be accompanied by a GOP-controlled Congress. With a friendly White House, that ups the likelihood of pro-gun legislation successfully becoming law, potentially including some of the bills that have laid stagnant for years. Here are a few things Republicans have already put on the table:
- Texas Senator John Cornyn, joined by 44 co-sponsors, introduced a concealed carry “reciprocity” bill. That type of legislation, which has been introduced and scuttled for years, requires states to recognize one another’s gun permits. In doing so, The Trace explained in 2017, it would dramatically expand where gun owners can bring their weapons.
- Representative Eric Burlison of Missouri was joined by 19 co-sponsors, including Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert, in introducing an “Abolish the ATF” bill. Burlison also has a bill to repeal the 1968 National Firearms Act.
- Michigan Representative Jack Bergman, with 76 co-sponsors, proposed legislation to “prohibit the Federal Government from entering into contracts with an entity that discriminates against the firearm and ammunition industry, and for other purposes.”
- Idaho Senator James Risch announced a bill to prevent the government from making a gun registry and requiring the ATF to “delete all existing firearm transaction records.” He also introduced a bill that he says would strip the ATF of some of its authority over firearm imports.
- Virginia Representative Ben Cline has a bill to “remove silencers from the definition of firearms, and for other purposes.” The strict regulation of silencers has become a flashpoint in recent years.
- Representative Andrew Clyde of Georgia has proposed barring Medicaid funds from being used for firearm safety counseling. That would reverse a public health effort the White House announced in September, a plan to allow reimbursement for gun injury risk screening, safe storage counseling, and sharing violence prevention resources.
Some of these bills are largely symbolic — abolishing the ATF, for example, would be complex (a potential consequence of which could be leaving local police in the lurch on gun crimes) — but, with the new makeup of the federal government, they have a greater chance of passing than ever. And that’s not to mention the budget, where funding for gun violence research hangs in the balance.
Still, there are mitigating factors: Republican infighting could slow Congress down, and most people of voting age favor stricter gun laws. Trump himself has a mixed record on gun issues, and he’s a generally unpredictable guy. Who’s to say what happens next?
— Sunny Sone, senior editor
From The Trace
The Secret Plan to Strike Down U.S. Gun Laws: How did an undercover cop-turned-evangelical pastor become the middleman for a dark-money scheme to take down the country’s firearm regulations?
Why Gun Violence Dropped in Philadelphia Last Year — And What Happens Next: City officials credit multiple factors for the historic declines in shootings, homicides, and other firearm-related crimes.
What We Learned From Analyzing 10 Years of Shooting Data: A Trace series challenges what many people might think about gun violence in America. Here are the highlights.
The Trace’s Gun Violence Data & Best Practices Guide: It’s difficult to find gun violence data, and the data that does exist is often incomplete and unreliable. In this guide, we share data sources trusted by our team.
What We’re Reading
GrabAGun: The Second Amendment, Apprentice Style: Firearms expert Andrew Willinger explains what a merger between an online firearms dealer and a company controlled by a major supporter of President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign indicates about guns, Wall Street, and the next Trump administration. [Duke Center for Firearms Law]
The Oath Keepers Are Back — and Targeting America’s Youth: The infamous paramilitary group has a new honcho, and designs to influence cops, politicians, and the Boy Scouts. [Rolling Stone]
Lauren Boebert’s Survival Instincts: The Colorado Republican, whose political career was built on pro-gun stances, regularly makes national headlines for her inflammatory rhetoric. As she faced a tough election to return to Congress, she painted a different picture of herself. [The New Yorker]
Far-Right Extremists Are LARPing as Emergency Workers in Los Angeles: “Based on a lot of their past activities, this is probably being used as a recruitment effort, which is something that’s been happening a lot more over the last year where far-right groups engage in disaster tourism. We saw it with Hurricane Helene, and now we’re seeing it again.” [Wired]
‘I Think Things Are Going to Be Bad, Really Bad’: The U.S. Military Debates Possible Deployment on U.S. Soil Under Trump: One fear, experts said, is the potential for bloodshed, given that the regular military is mainly trained to shoot at and kill foreign enemies. [Politico]
SCOTUS Rejects Multiple Second Amendment Cases, Relists Gun Ban Challenges: A roundup of the gun cases the Supreme Court declined to take up this week, and the ones they still could. [The Reload]
In Memoriam
Noah Scurry, 17, was bright, in more ways than one. A top student, Noah had recently won the distinction of becoming his school’s highest scorer on the SAT; beyond that, though, he was good at making people smile. Noah was shot and killed in the driveway of his North Philadelphia home this week. He was a promising basketball player, a point guard whose highlight reels showed a kind of effortless talent on the court. Those who knew him described him as very caring, someone who’d help classmates carry books and do anything for his family. “Whenever he entered a room, the room always lit,” a classmate said. “There was always a smile on somebody’s face when you were around him.”
Spotlight on Solutions
The future of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention is up in the air, as are many of the Biden administration’s efforts to address the country’s shooting epidemic. But while President Joe Biden made gains in countering the crisis, progress on the federal level was stalled for a long period beforehand, meaning that states were usually left with the fallout. That might be one reason the Biden administration incentivized and called for state-level action, like creating offices of gun violence prevention in states that didn’t yet have them.
In the wake of a high-profile school shooting in Madison, Wisconsin, Governor Tony Evers on Tuesday announced that his state would be the latest to join the ranks: Though it doesn’t have “gun” in the name, the Wisconsin Office of Violence Prevention will distribute grants for gun buybacks, safe storage and gun trace programs, and after-school activities, among other things. The office, established via executive order, will be funded by unused federal pandemic aid; Wisconsin Public Radio reports that Evers plans to ask lawmakers to approve ongoing state funding. Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway praised the executive action: “We all need to be able to address these issues at the root causes. I’m really grateful Governor Evers recognizes that violence prevention has to be a priority across our state.”
Pull Quote
“I haven’t had drug dealers on my corner for about two months. So for the last two weeks I didn’t even bother to go up to get my gun after getting home. It’s been very nice. The kids have been out playing.”
— Philadelphia City Councilmember Jim Harrity, a resident of the Kensington neighborhood, which is notorious for street-corner drug dealing and its accompanying violence, on Philly’s drop in gun crime, to The Trace