By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The billionaire-backed gun prohibition lobby and establishment media were quick to weigh in on Wednesday’s announcement by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that 34 proposed rule changes were being announced which will reverse years of confusing gun control regulations.
PBS quoted Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s explanation about the change: “For too long, regulations were written without any real understanding of how firearms businesses operate, how lawful gun owners handle their firearms, or what truly improves public safety.”
But it was CNN which quoted his explanation about why: “We’re repealing rules that went beyond what the law allows.”
Translation: Biden administration rules were imposed to weaponize the ATF against retailers, gun show attendees and citizen gun owners.
CBC, following along on Biden-era rhetoric and the portrayal of anyone buying or selling a firearm as an “unlicensed dealer,” reported the proposed changes thusly: “Among the more than 30 changes announced Wednesday is the proposed repeal of a 2024 Biden administration rule that sought to force thousands more firearms dealers across U.S. to run background checks on buyers at gun shows or other places outside brick-and-mortar stores.
“That rule,” CBC said, “aimed to close what is sometimes called the ‘gun show loophole,’ which allowed guns to be sold by unlicensed dealers who do not perform background checks to ensure the potential buyer is not legally prohibited from having a firearm.”
Private citizens who may sell a firearm at a gun show are not “dealers.”
Blanche noted during Wednesday’s press announcement, “We are cutting unnecessary red tape, and we are replacing confusion with clear, straightforward language so that everyday Americans don’t need a law degree just to understand their rights.”
But John Feinblatt, president of the wealthy Everytown for Gun Safety group, released a statement attempting to link the regulations change somehow with the attempted massacre at the White House Correspondents Association gala last Saturday.
“Four days after the nation watched gunfire break out at the White House correspondents’ dinner, the Trump administration’s answer is to gut commonsense gun safety laws and sabotage the only federal agency dedicated to keeping guns out of criminal hands,” Feinblatt declared.
CNN reported, “Days after a gunman charged security at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner in what investigators say was an attempt to kill President Donald Trump with legally-owned firearms, his Justice Department is further rolling back gun control measures.”
As noted in a statement from Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, who was in the room with Blanche, newly-confirmed ATF Director Robert Cekada and representatives from the firearms industry and gun rights organizations—including Adam Kraut, executive director of the Second Amendment Foundation—major tenets of the proposed rule changes include”
- Rescinding the “Stabilizing Brace” Rule
- Revising the “Definition of ‘Engaged in the Business’ as a Dealer in Firearms” Rule
- Revising “Machine Gun” Definition
Cekada Confirmed
Only an hour before the Wednesday regulations announcement, Cekada had been confirmed as ATF director by a 59-39 Senate vote. He had been serving as deputy director of the agency, which has an unpopular history with Second Amendment activists over such debacles as Operation Fast and Furious—an Obama administration scandal which “walked” thousands of guns across the border into Mexico—and the shooting death of Little Rock, Ark., airport administrator Bryan Malinowski during an early morning raid at his home in March 2004.
Cekada’s confirmation brought words of encouragement from Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
“We’re impressed with Mr. Cekada’s background and with his intentions to change the ATF, while reinforcing the Trump administration’s philosophy that the Second Amendment is not a second-class right,” Gottlieb said. “We are looking over the proposed rule changes and we are confident they will result in a noticeable change of direction for the agency.
“Unlike the past director under the previous administration, Cekada is a gun owner and he understands the Second Amendment,” Gottlieb observed. “We’re delighted that he recognizes there is still work to be done.”
After Cekada signed the 34 proposed rule changes, which will be published son in the Federal Register, Gottlieb said “It definitely appears Mr. Cekada has hit the ground running.”
