Trump Freezes New Gun Exports; Maine Waiting Period Blocked

02/21/25 • 51 min

Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I cover the Trump administration's current freeze on processing new export licenses and how it is hitting the firearms industry particularly hard. We also talk about a federal judge issuing a preliminary injunction against Maine's 72-hour waiting period for gun sales, an Arizona state judge tossing a local gun control ordinance under preemption, and we wrap up with some headlines from outside The Reload.

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Previous Episode

What Will Trump's Executive Order on Guns Deliver? (Ft. David Kopel)

President Donald Trump issued an executive order that reviews federal gun policy with the aim of implementing some changes.

However, it's unclear exactly what changes might come from the order. So, we've got Second Amendment scholar David Kopel on the show to try and give some clarity to what's possible.

Kopel walks through each section of the order and explains what kind of actions they could lead to. He notes the ATF rules are likely to be an area of emphasis and one that may have the biggest practical impact. Similarly, the rollback of the ATF's "zero tolerance" enforcement policy for gun dealers could be significant and happen much faster.

He also explained how the order could lead to the Department of Justice changing its stance in Second Amendment litigation or reclassifying certain guns to make them easier to import. He said it could also do smaller things like revoke and respond to reports from the seemingly defunct White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.

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Special Guest: David Kopel.

Next 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.