Washington, D.C. (March 3, 2025)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Lucy McBath, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, wrote to Attorney General Pamela Bondi demanding information on the Trump Administration’s Executive Order directing an examination of critical firearms regulations, which threatens measures that have saved lives and helped address the threat of gun violence while respecting Americans’ constitutional rights, including those protected by the Second Amendment.
“As members of Congress committed to safeguarding Americans’ rights enshrined in both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, we are determined to protect our communities against lethal gun crime in a manner consistent with the Second Amendment. We are confident that your forthcoming examination, pursuant to the recent executive order issued by President Donald Trump, of ‘all orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements, and other actions of executive departments and agencies’ in this area will, if carried out objectively and in good faith, find that such actions have overwhelmingly advanced these important goals in a way that is perfectly consistent with the Second Amendment. There is plainly no need for any new plan of action to, in the words of the executive order, ‘protect the Second Amendment rights of all Americans,’” wrote the Ranking Members.
The Executive Order specifically instructs Attorney General Bondi to examine the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) “enhanced regulatory enforcement policy,” which allows ATF to enforce the Gun Control Act as passed by Congress and revoke the licenses of gun dealers who willfully violated the law. The ATF’s enhanced regulatory policy has not prevented a single American who may lawfully possess a firearm from exercising his or her Second Amendment rights.
The Ranking Members note that Congress has a long history of passing legislation to protect Americans from violent crime while respecting Americans’ constitutional rights, including those protected by the Second Amendment.
In order to more fully understand the review that Attorney General Bondi will conduct and the plan of action she will create pursuant to the Executive Order, the Ranking Members requested information by March 14, 2025.
Click here to read the letter.
