As we are caught in the throes of this moment in American history, the things we should be seeing are going by blurry fast or are being ignored altogether by a mainstream media that feeds on the partisan din. So, with 2025 ending and the first year of President Donald Trump’s (R) second administration nearly gone, we decided to give you a scrapbook of bright highlights on the winding path of the continued struggle to keep and, where necessary, to win back our Second Amendment-protected freedom.
Just Getting Started
On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump was inaugurated and his administration roared in like a tide in the Bay of Fundy.
“The prior administration placed an undue burden on gun owners and vendors by targeting law-abiding citizens exercising their 2nd Amendment rights,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. “The Department of Justice’s new 2nd Amendment Task Force will combine department-wide policy and litigation resources to advance President Trump’s pro-gun agenda and protect gun owners from overreach.”
Last February, President Trump signed Executive Order 14206, which directed the attorney general to propose a plan of action to protect Second Amendment rights.
Following President Trump’s executive order, the Department of Justice (DOJ), led by Bondi, created the Second Amendment Enforcement Task Force. In an April 2025 public memo, Bondi stated that the task force would protect the right to keep and bear arms of the citizenry, asserting that the Second Amendment has been treated as a “second-class right” for too long.
The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, created by Joe Biden and staffed by anti-gun advocates, went dark in February and all of its staff resigned prior to Trump’s inauguration. Effectively, the agency is no more, and its anti-freedom agenda has been scrapped.
The Trump administration soon tossed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) “zero-tolerance” policy that, under Biden, revoked gun stores’ federal firearms licenses for even minor clerical errors.
On September 30, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division announced that a lawsuit had been filed in the Federal Central District of California against the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department because the law-enforcement agency has been purposely slow walking giving concealed weapons permit to applicants.
Under President Trump, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) removed advisories that previously treated guns as a public-health issue. This Biden administration policy had declared that “gun violence” is a public-health crisis, as if gun ownership is a virus that HHS needs to treat like a disease. After an executive order from President Trump, HHS removed this page from its website and ended this practice—specifically, this was known as the “firearm violence in America” webpage.
National Firearms Act
On July 4, President Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which included a repeal of the $200 federal tax stamp on short-barrel shotguns and rifles and on suppressors in the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934. This tax will be eliminated starting on January 1, 2026. The repeal of this tax has also opened legal avenues to challenging what now amounts to a federal gun registry. The NRA has sued to end this infringement.
Trump Is Even Having an Impact on Hollywood
In January, the Trump administration named Mel Gibson, along with actors Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight, as special ambassadors to Hollywood. On April 4, in a highly symbolic move, the DOJ restored Gibson’s gun rights, which had been revoked in 2011. Several other individuals also had their rights restored. The decision by DOJ underscores the administration’s broader philosophy: If someone has served their sentence and paid their debt and are no longer a threat to themselves or others, then their constitutional rights, including their right to keep and bear arms, should be restored.
D O J Civil-Rights Division Now Defends the Second
Traditionally, the Civil Rights Division has focused on safeguarding freedoms related to voting, housing and employment, but now the Trump administration has expanded its purview to the Second Amendment; this marks the first time the Second Amendment is being elevated to that same level of federal oversight.
“The new project I’ve got going in the Civil Rights Division, to the surprise of many people on both sides, is the Second Amendment,” said Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon. “Who’s protecting the Second Amendment in the federal government? … So, we will be working together to make this a focus of the Civil Rights Division … challenging state law that violates fundamental civil rights in the Civil Rights Division.”
The Trump Administration Refocuses the Criminal-Justice System
Last August, President Trump, when speaking about concealed carry in the District of Columbia, said, “I’m a Second Amendment person, very simply. People have to be able to protect themselves.”
As the president said this, his administration was moving to restore order; as a result, violent crime in D.C. quickly went down. The results were profound, as all types of violent crime plummeted. In doing so, the Trump administration showed once again that law-abiding armed citizens are not the cause of violent crime, but that they can be a part of the solution.
D.C.’s elected officials have spent decades doing all they can to keep this freedom from good citizens. They made gun ownership and concealed carry as difficult as they could even as crime rates skyrocketed in D.C. The Trump administration’s law-and-order push, in contrast, has clearly shown that our freedom was never the problem—violent criminals are.
N R A Annual Meeting & Exhibits
The NRA’s Annual Meetings & Exhibits met last spring in Atlanta, Ga., for its annual celebration of American freedom with seminars, concerts, the world’s top gun makers showing their new and classic designs and so much more. In 2026, the show moves to Houston, Texas, from April 16-19. You can find out more at nraam.org.
Also, last February the NRA’s Great American Outdoor Show again rocked for nine days in Harrisburg, Pa. You can find out more about this year’s show at greatamericanoutdoorshow.org. This winter the show runs from Feb. 7-15.
N R A Competitions are Growing
The NRA’s competitions are growing. This year marked the beginning of the NRA America’s Rifle Challenge program (ARC), which gives gun owners the chance to compete with AR-15s. ARC gives people the opportunity to use America’s rifle—the AR-15—in a fun and competitive environment. Whether you are brand new to shooting or a seasoned competitor, ARC offers a welcoming and structured way to build your skills and enjoy your rifle in a safe setting. Shooters can start small and simple, and then can work their way up to more advanced stages as they get more comfortable and capable with their rifles. Visit arc.nra.org for more information on how to get involved. Also, go to competitions.nra.org for more on all the other competitions the NRA runs each year.
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