SCOTUS Ducks Felony Gun Rights Case; Daniel Defense Weighs in on NRA Reform

02/27/25 • 49 min

Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I cover the Supreme Court's latest remand of a case concerning whether convicted felons have any Second Amendment rights. We also discuss major gun manufacturer Daniel Defense's decision to wade into the ongoing efforts to reform the NRA through board elections. We then briefly touch on the Trump administration's decision to tap Kash Patel as acting ATF director before wrapping up with a round up of stories from outside the Reload.

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Previous Episode

Duke's Andrew Willinger on How Trump May Change DOJ's Gun Litigation Approach

This week, we're taking a closer look at how the Trump DOJ might change its approach to gun litigation.

We've got Andrew Willinger of Duke University's Firearms Law Center on the show to give us a different perspective from the one we got last week. He argued the administration is likely to move to reverse a lot of the Biden-era ATF rules currently tied up in court. Although, he said it might not do anything on the "ghost gun" rule currently waiting on a Supreme Court decision.

He argued areas where President Trump's other commitments conflict with gun-rights priorities, the latter may take a back seat. He said Trump may prioritize going after gang members who use homemade guns over protecting collectors who like to build their own firearms. Similarly, while his own non-violent felony convictions may inform the DOJ's approach to Second Amendment challenges against the lifetime ban for those offenses, his hardline rhetorical approach to drug crimes may lead the DOJ to argue in favor of that gun prohibition.

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Special Guest: Andrew Willinger.

Next Episode

Reason Magazine's J.D. Tuccille on Kash Patel Leading the ATF and FBI

This week, we're looking at the first-of-its-kind move to make the FBI Director the Acting Director of the ATF.

To do that, we've got Reason Magazine's J.D. Tuccille back on the show. He recently wrote about what Kash Patel's appointment might mean for the gun agency.

He argued it could send a signal the administration plans to merge the two law enforcement arms, if not officially, at least effectively. Tuccille said the move has the potential to reign in some of the worst excesses of the ATF by eliminating its singular focus on gun law enforcement. But, he noted, it could also backfire on gun owners given the FBI's reputation for aggressive enforcement, even over-aggressive at times.

Then there's Kash Patel himself. He has received strong backing from gun-rights groups, who hope he'll wipe out the gun restrictions and zero-tolerance approach, as well as the officials who implemented them. However, Tuccille said his history of comments promising retribution against his and President Trump's opponents in government and media raise concerns about how he might wield his expansive new power over federal law enforcement.

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Special Guest: JD Tuccille.