Trump administration continues efforts to overturn Biden-era gun policies

President Donald Trump's administration has continued to overturn policies set under his predecessor, Joe Biden, generally expanding rights for gun owners and the gun industry.

In January, pro-gun advocates criticized Trump and other top officials for their comments seemingly justifying immigration officers' fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a legally permitted gun owner. It marked the first public sign that gun industry advocates were taking issue with a Trump administration stance. 

Generally, however, the federal government under Trump has been issuing regulations favorable to pro-gun advocates.

In addition to the policies noted in previous updates of our promise tracking, the Trump administration took the following steps in second half of 2025 and early 2026:

• It created a new office in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to challenge local laws and policies that limit gun rights, guided by a February 2025 executive order;

• The Interior Department issued an order that opens land managed by the department to hunting unless there's a specific reason not to do so, and that limits bans on lead ammunition on its lands;

• The Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released a preliminary finding that concluded certain large banks had discriminated against companies that make firearms. The office's report followed an executive order by the president;

• The Commerce Department published a final regulation making it easier for U.S. firearms companies to be able to export overseas, a rule that overturned a preliminary one from Biden's presidency that was stricter.

Mark Oliva, managing director of public affairs with the National Shooting Sports Foundation, told PolitiFact that he expects additional regulatory changes in the coming months.

During the 2024 campaign, Trump specifically said he would "terminate" every Biden-era regulation "on my very first week back in office, perhaps my first day." He hasn't acted that quickly, but he has moved to modify or scrap numerous gun-related policies in the first year of his second term, with more actions on gun policy expected to come. We rate the promise In the Works.