Republican Hints at Using Appropriations Bills to Target Federal Gun Laws

The GOP may have majorities in both the House and Senate, but thanks to the filibuster in the upper chamber, Republicans are still going to struggle to get the 60 votes necessary to roll back federal gun laws using standalone bills. If, however, the GOP is serious about undoing current infringements as well as strengthening the Second Amendment, they could always try to attach those measures to appropriation bills, which only require simple majorities in both chambers before they’re adopted. 

That strategy is likely to be deployed in the near future, according to one House member who recently spoke to Roll Call. 

Rep. Robert B. Aderholt, R-Ala., a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said former President Joe Biden was not going to sign an appropriations bill with certain language that went after his own administration’s gun rules.

“We don’t have that issue this time,” Aderholt said. “I think it’s very ripe that we can get some of that language this time.”

The Trump administration is angling for change on its own. An executive order from Trump this month stated that the Second Amendment “is an indispensable safeguard of security and liberty” and ordered the attorney general to examine all orders and regulations of executive departments to “assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens.” The order also instructed the attorney general to present a “proposed plan of action.”

Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Wisconsin Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said he sees a role for Congress in going after Biden regulations.

“I don’t think we should make the administration do all the heavy lifting here,” he said, mentioning the Congressional Review Act, a tool that allows Congress to overturn federal agency rules.

The problem with using the Congressional Review Act to repeal federal rules is this: while the CRA only requires simple majorities, Congress only has sixty legislative days to disapprove of any given rule after the rule has been published in the Federal Register. The Biden administration’s rules on unfinished frames and receivers, pistol stabilizing braces, and who is “engaged in the business” of dealing firearms have already passed that threshold, so the CRA really isn’t a viable option to repeal those regulations. 

Appropriations, on the other hand, are fair game for lawmakers, who could try to attach measures like the SHUSH Act or national Right to Carry reciprocity measures to budget bills. 

There will be multiple avenues for GOP lawmakers to shape firearm policy over the next two years, whether it’s rolling back gun regulations, implementing gun-owner-friendly measures or shaping the funding level of the ATF. In particular, Republicans could include policy riders in government funding legislation that prohibits money from being used to enforce gun regulations.

So far this session, GOP lawmakers have filed a range of firearm-related bills, such as legislation to abolish the ATF and another measure that would prohibit federal department or agency funding from going toward providing states assistance in the implementation of “red flag” laws. Those laws, in general, allow a court to temporarily forbid an individual from having a gun if they are believed to present a risk to themselves or others.

Dozens of Republican senators pointed to Trump’s executive order in a letter last week as they asked the ATF to rescind several rules rolled out under the Biden administration. The Biden administration pushed for tougher gun regulations to address what it called an epidemic of gun violence, an issue underscored by repeated, high-profile mass shootings that have happened over the past 25 years.

“We urge you to immediately align ATF’s rules and policies with the President’s strong support for the Second Amendment,” the senators wrote.

The Trump administration can formally repeal each and every Biden-era restriction adopted by the ATF through its own rule-making authority, though that will take some time. But, as Roll Call notes, Congress include riders in appropriation bills that preclude the use of federal funds to enforce those rules before they’re officially wiped off the books. 

Given the slim majorities in both the House and Senate, I don’t think we’re going to see majority support for things like repealing the National Firearms Act or Gun Control Act of 1968 in their entirety, or even scrapping the Hughes Amendment and allowing post-1986 machine guns to be placed on the list of NFA items that are restricted but still available for sale. Deregulating suppressors is likely to be a tough battle as well, but there’s a decent chance that it could garner enough support to be included in an appropriations bill, especially if gun owners aren’t silent about supporting the measure. Efforts like national right to carry reciprocity or Thomas Massie’s bill allowing under-21s to purchase handguns are well within the realm of possibility though… so long as Republicans are willing to make the restoration of our Second Amendment rights a top priority this session.