With the ATF walking back some rules and a constitutionalist trajectory reshaping the Department of Justice (DOJ), there’s no question the Executive Branch is doing more for gun rights than Congress.
But that’s also the problem.
Missed Opportunity — and a Dangerous Future
By failing to pass the HPA and SHORT Act in reconciliation with the BBB recently, Congress now faces an even steeper climb.
Any future effort will require a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate — a near impossibility. Republicans wasted the best opportunity in a decade to eliminate suppressor and SBR regulations with a simple majority vote.
Perhaps that is why Congress has left other critical reforms to rot: National Constitutional Carry has languished and the bill to Abolish the ATF has been ignored entirely.
And now, there’s a growing threat: DOJ discussions about merging the ATF with the DEA could give birth to the most bloated, dangerous federal gun enforcement agency in American history — an alphabet soup monster with broader jurisdiction, greater funding, and even less oversight.
“Gun owners don’t want ‘reform, and they certainly don’t want an empowered ATF,’” McNutt warned. “They want abolition. The ATF shouldn’t exist. And the fact that Republicans aren’t fighting to shut it down shows they’ve lost touch with the base.”
A Warning Ahead of 2026
As 2026 midterms approach, Republicans are walking into a political buzzsaw of their own making.
Grassroots gun owners — typically the most reliable conservative voters — are disillusioned. They’ve watched Republican lawmakers roll over and play dead, while Trump’s DOJ carries all the weight of restoring Second Amendment rights.
McNutt put it bluntly: “Republicans made a fatal miscalculation. They thought gun owners would settle for temporary NFA tax releif. No, they want freedom. And without Congress acting, gun owners are left to hope a future administration doesn’t flip the NFA taxes back to $200 — or even $2,000.”
Gun owners are watching. They’re angry. And they’re making it clear: Executive action is no substitute for legislative backbone.
