Biden ATF Was Singling Out FFL's Like Me: Thank You President Trump

A new report from the National Shooting Sports shows just how devastating President Joe Biden’s “zero tolerance” police was for America’s gun retailers.

According to the report, the ATF recently released updated data on inspections, warning letters, and revocations of Federal Firearms Licenses (FFLs). These are the typical actions taken after ATF visits an FFL for an inspection.

“Typically, and prior to the Biden administration’s crushing policy, minor clerical errors, such as transposing a serial number or missing a date on an ATF Form 4473, were treated as such—minor—and corrected with no serious penalty or consequence,” the report stated. “They were annotated for corrective action with ATF inspectors instructing firearm retailers on how to stay within regulations and laws. These are not ‘willful violations,’ nefarious retailer behavior or actions of blatantly breaking the law or putting public safety at risk.”

As part of its war on gun sellers, the Biden administration changed the way errors were handled with its “zero tolerance” policy, revoking some licenses for minor clerical errors and forcing some FFLs to give up their license to avoid prosecution.

According to the NSSF report, 195 FFL licenses were revoked in 2024, nearly 25% more than the 157 revocations the previous year. In contrast, ATF revoked 88 licenses in 2022 and only five in the last six months of 2021.

Thankfully for firearms licensees, President Donald Trump’s administration revoked Biden’s “zero tolerance” policy, a boon for gun sellers, gun buyers and gun manufacturers. He also signed an executive order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to “examine all orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements, and other actions of executive departments and agencies (agencies) to assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens, and present a proposed plan of action to the President, through the Domestic Policy Advisor, to protect the Second Amendment rights of all Americans.”

“It made clear that the president’s stated promises throughout the campaign to all Americans will be kept and his word honored,” the NSSF report stated. “He followed through with that promise by directing the ATF and DOJ to rescind the ‘zero tolerance’ policy that punished lawful and highly-regulated Federal Firearm Licensees (FFLs) for minor clerical errors. There’s new leadership at ATF, too with Acting Director Daniel Driscoll and Deputy Director Robert Cekada. They are joined by new Assistant Director and Chief Counsel Robert Leider.”

The report also said that the ATF fact sheet showing 2024 FFL revocation numbers is a clear representation of why President Trump’s administration has been welcomed by the firearm industry.

“Getting back to punishing criminals while allowing the firearm industry to do its job is the right approach,” the report concluded. “The former president was actively and unapologetically against that effort, after all, he labeled our industry ‘the enemy.’ President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi, however, are unabashedly focusing on enforcing our nation’s existing gun laws to make our communities safe again and for protecting the Second Amendment.”