Today, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the repeal of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) zero-tolerance policy that has shut down gun stores across the country.
The zero-tolerance policy was a Biden-era policy that shut down federal firearms licensees (FFL) businesses across the country for minor clerical errors. President Joe Biden called these firearms dealers “rogue gun dealers” in a White House Rose Garden Ceremony demonizing the industry. He claimed that these gun dealers were breaking the law to arm criminals, but in practice, most of the targeted gun stores were honest businesses that made slight paperwork mistakes, such as transposing a firearm’s serial numbers on an ATF Form 4473. The number of FFLs revoked under the Biden-era policy increased by an estimated 500% over previous years.
BREAKING
Kash Patel has officially repealed ATF’s tyrannical “Zero Tolerance” Policy.
This policy was used to unlawfully shut down hundreds of gun stores and build an illegal, digital registry of out-of-business records.
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) April 7, 2025
The zero-tolerance policy removed the Industry Operations Inspectors’ (IOI) ability to use discretion to determine if a violation was willful or just a simple paperwork mistake. Anti-gun groups celebrated the Biden-era policy, which they saw as a good first step to crushing the firearms industry. The pro-gun side saw the zero-tolerance policy as an attack on the right to acquire arms. As the courts have said, there is no right to bear arms without the right to purchase arms. Multiple lawsuits were filed challenging the Biden administration’s zero-tolerance policy. Those cases are still working their way through the court system.
The Biden administration’s excuse for the policy was that guns were being trafficked through “rogue gun dealers.” Although this claim gave the administration cover for the policy, it was divorced from reality. According to the National Firearms in Commerce and Trafficking Assessment (NFCTA) released by the Biden DOJ, gun dealers only accounted for 1.6% of illegal arms trafficking cases. That is a far cry from the epidemic that the Biden Administration claimed was happening due to crooked gun dealers.
When Donald Trump won the 2024 Presidential election, he promised to change the direction of the government on Second Amendment issues. Shortly after he took office, he issued an executive order (EO) demanding the DOJ review any policies that might violate an American’s Second Amendment right. This policy change is a result of that order. According to AmmoLand’s sources inside the ATF, it is just one of a few changes that are expected to be rolled out in the near future.
Cases of FFLs that were affected by the zero-tolerance policy will be reviewed by the ATF. If it is determined that the FFL revocation was done because of the zero-tolerance policy, the decision will be reversed. Hundreds of FFLs could have their businesses restored. It is impossible to tell how many of those will reopen after being shuttered by the Bureau. Many gun stores shut down and lost their place of business. Some, if not most, will not be able to reopen.
The new ATF policy is a welcome change for the gun industry. Right now, the biggest fear for gun shops isn’t the economy; it is being shut down by a rogue agency. Those days might be changing, and it couldn’t happen too soon.
About John Crump
Mr. Crump is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people from all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons, follow him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
The Constitution has zero tolerance for the ATF and any “laws” and “rules” that they enforce.
Shall not be infringed. Spending any taxpayer resources on something that should not be done at all, since it is UNCONSTITUTIONAL, is the epitome of waste, and should be a high-priority target for DOGE. Sic ’em DOGE, sic ’em!
“Repealed”? Who repealed it? I saw no news of Congress repealing anything. Hence, just the ATF stopping their corrupt actions, but yet the “ATF” will still be there in 3.6yrs from now, and might go back to it’s gestapo ways. And as we see, SCOTUS isn’t helping anyone.
Certainly didn’t slow them down at the Warnamaker gun show in Tulsa. Running around trying to buy display suppressors and do dirty deals to see if they could trap sellers. Their desperation was so obvious booth salespeople made fun of them.
and those that lost their license should have it restored for free if they want.
like some have said, sounds good on the surface but we need legislation or scotus decisions that uphold the Second Amendment as it was written.
this is going to be good for a while, so we can see the talking heads on the tube and progs in general freak the hell out.
Now it the time to take another Progressive New Left term and feed it like crow to the radicals who cooked up this scheme in the first place. That term is ‘restorative justice.’ This one will be easy to prove. Every FFL who lost their business due to this bureaucratic hubris can show a definite business loss. How many sales, how much revenue did you lose and on top of that any legal fees incurred. Tabulate and submit it on your next federal income tax return as a Bureaucratic Imposed Business Revenue Loss and write it off, 100% rate until… Read more »