Trump issues "Protecting Second Amendment Rights" executive order

On Feb. 7, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed Executive Order 14162 eliminating the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention and revoking the Surgeon General’s public health advisory on gun violence (White House fact sheet).

In May 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice settled a lawsuit allowing the sale of forced reset triggers that enable semi-automatic weapons to fire rapid bursts of bullets (Washington Post, May 17, 2025).

On Mar. 20, 2025, the Department of Justice published a rule reviving federal firearm rights restoration petitions for persons prohibited under federal law—a process defunded since 1992 (NRAILA, Mar. 21, 2025).

The Biden-era “zero tolerance” policy led to a six-fold increase in enforcement actions against Federal Firearms Licensees for paperwork errors; the Trump administration criticized and moved to reverse that policy (White House fact sheet).

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) reported a 24% reduction in mass shootings from 659 in 2023 to 500 in 2024, attributing the decline to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (Murphy Senate Floor Speech).