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Gun Rights Lawyer Named ATF’s New Chief Legal Counsel
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Robert Leider will take over duties as the top lawyer of the ATF. The appointment is a sharp change of course from former Chief Counsel Pamela Hicks. Ms. Hicks’s views on guns were in line with groups like Everytown and Brady. Mr. Leider takes a more liberty-based approach to guns. The appointment of Leider to the position saw an outpouring of joy from gun rights activists.
Mr. Leider was an assistant professor at George Mason University, Antonin Scalia Law School, where he taught a class on the Second Amendment. Before becoming a professor, he worked for powerhouse law firm Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, LLP. He also clerked for Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas. |
CO: LAC Commissioners confront state deficit, second amendment concerns
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Legislatively, Lopez sounded the alarm on Colorado’s “huge financial challenge,” citing a projected state deficit of between $700 million and $1.4 billion that he said threatens to leave counties falling short on funding mandates. Lopez also reserved sharp criticism for Senate Bill 25-003, a firearms regulation proposal he called a “huge infringement upon the Second Amendment” and “so partisan” that “there is simply no appetite to work one side with the other.” |
Campaign 2026 Just Started
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If you think returning Donald Trump to the White House and having Congress under GOP control gives you the leisure to wrap up your tent and go home, guess again.
Believe it or not, the 2026 campaign for mid-term elections at the federal and state level have already kicked off. To defend your Second Amendment rights, you need to be on your toes. Now is the time to get busy with the following goals in mind: |
DOJ Allows Federal Gun Rights Restoration for First Time Since 1992
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Key Points of the Rule Change:
--Since 1992, Congress has prohibited ATF from using funds to process gun rights restoration applications, making the statute obsolete.
--ATF will no longer handle individual firearm disability relief applications under 18 U.S.C. 925(c). DOJ will instead carry out the statute and process petitions for gun rights restoration.
--The DOJ rule goes into effect immediately upon publication and will simultaneously accept public comments on the rule before issuing a final version. |
WY: Wyoming Governor Vetoes Gun Bill, Calls It Overkill
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Wyoming Gun Owners posted a statement on Facebook saying they had been "stabbed in the back (again) by Governor Gordon.'
While the legislature could override the governor's veto of this and several other bills from this session, doing so would require the legislature to come back into session to hold override votes. Two thirds of both the Wyoming House and Senate would have to vote in favor of overriding a gubernatorial veto. |
MA: Second Amendment Battle Over Handgun Ban Heats Up in Massachusetts
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The battle over the Second Amendment has reached a boiling point in Massachusetts, where a lawsuit challenging the state’s handgun ban could have far-reaching implications for gun owners across the country. The Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) has taken a decisive stand, filing a final summary judgment brief in Granata v. Campbell, a case that seeks to overturn the state’s restrictions on certain handguns. |
DOJ Claims Suppressors Lack Second Amendment Protection
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A new legal battle over firearm suppressors has emerged as the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) argues that suppressors are not arms and therefore not protected by the Second Amendment. This claim was outlined in a recent legal brief filed by Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Simpson, stating that suppressors fall outside the constitutional right to bear arms.
This move has sparked immediate backlash from gun rights advocates, including the Gun Owners Foundation, which posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the DOJ’s position undermines established law and legal precedent. |
ME: Maine Judge Leaves Hold On 3-Day Waiting Period Law
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An effort by the Maine attorney general to persuade a federal judge to reinstate Maine’s controversial three-day waiting period for firearm purchases while awaiting consideration by a federal appeals court has failed.
Last month, a federal judge in Portland granted a request from gun rights groups to temporarily pause the three-day waiting period on gun purchases, stating that the plaintiffs made a compelling argument that the law is unconstitutional. |
TN: Only 1% of owners have used guns in self-defense, study says
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People often say they own a gun to protect themselves and their families. However, according to a new study, firearms owners rarely use their weapon in self-defense.
Less than one percent of people with firearm access used their guns in self-defense in any given year, according to findings published March 14 in JAMA Network Open.
"We all have one in the family. I don't know one person who doesn't carry," Georgina Holtz said.
Becoming a victim of a crime is a scenario no one wants to find themselves in, but that possibility is why a majority of gun owners decide to buy them. |
NV: Deadly shooting under investigation near Cheyenne, Durango; could be self-defense
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Authorities say they are investigating a deadly shooting in a potential case of self-defense in the northwest Las Vegas community.
The incident was reported around 9:22 p.m. on Cheltenham Street, part of a gated community near Cheyenne Avenue and Durango Drive, said Las Vegas Metropolitan Police.
LVMPD received a call about a domestic disturbance, and officers arrived to find one person inside a home suffering from a gunshot wound. |
Sufficiently Analogous: Should Age Matter When Purchasing Guns?
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In Episode 5: An Episode for the Ages, co-hosts Kelly Roskam, JD, Tim Carey, JD, and Kari Still, JD, explore how courts are grappling with minimum age firearm regulations in the wake of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen. With insight from Alex McCourt, JD, PhD ‘19, MPH core faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, the episode delves into public health research on firearm risks among young adults, while special guest Professor Megan Walsh, JD, a visiting assistant clinical Professor of Law and the Director of the Gun Violence Prevention Law Clinic at the University of Minnesota Law School unpacks the shifting legal landscape in federal courts. |
11th Circuit Upholds Florida Ban on Long Gun Purchases by Young Adults
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If the ruling, which may be read here, is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier won’t defend the law. Uthmeier, writing on “X,” explained, “Upon assuming office, I tasked my staff with reviewing Florida’s underlying law and whether it was consistent with the Second Amendment. Notwithstanding CA11’s opinion today, I believe restricting the right of law-abiding adults to purchase firearms is unconstitutional. The Fifth Circuit quite recently reached the same conclusion. If the NRA decides to seek further review at SCOTUS, I am directing my office not to defend this law. Men and women old enough to fight and die for our country should be able to purchase firearms to defend themselves and their families.” |
Trump Administration Scrubs Biden-Era ‘Firearm Violence’ Advisory From Internet
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The Trump administration removed a Biden-era surgeon general’s advisory on the public health effects of gun violence and a similar webpage from the Health and Human Services (HHS) website.
Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a public health advisory on “firearm violence,” declaring it to be a “public health crisis” in 2024, though a link to the report was recently scrubbed from the HHS site. The advisory was part of the Biden administration’s broader efforts to usher in additional gun control measures at the federal level. |
More law enforcement agencies stop reselling guns to prevent use in crimes
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In a January report about gun trafficking, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives warned law enforcement against reselling guns because of the frequency with which former police weapons are used in violent crimes.
Police departments sell their used guns. Thousands end up at crime scenes.
The Trace and CBS News subsequently contacted 60 law enforcement agencies with a history of reselling guns to ask whether they had changed their policies.
Twenty-one departments responded. Four — the Cincinnati, Columbus, and Sacramento police departments, as well as the Monmouth County Sheriff's Office in New Jersey — confirmed they had stopped reselling weapons after last year's investigation. |
2A Legal Scholar Now Chief Counsel at ATF
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Less than a month after the Trump administration fired the top lawyer at the ATF, a new face has appeared on the agency's leadership page.
In late February, Guns.com reported that Pamela Hicks, a Justice Department attorney who had been serving as the agency's Chief Counsel since 2021, had been terminated. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi at the time told the media, "These people were targeting gun owners-- not going to happen under this administration. And we're looking to hire really great people."
This week, with Hicks' photo long scrubbed from the ATF's leadership page, a new face appeared, that of Robert Leider, listed as Assistant Director/Chief Counsel. |
MN: How University of Minnesota law students are tackling gun violence through litigation
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A first-of-its-kind law clinic is addressing gun violence head-on.
Students at the University of Minnesota Law School focus on gun violence prevention through litigation. They're working pro bono on real Second Amendment cases through the attorney general's office, serving as special assistants. For many, the work is personal.
"Growing up in Minneapolis in the early 2000s I was never not aware of the issue of gun violence in my community," law student Emily Byers Olson said.
"My grandfather, my dad's father, he died from gun violence. And my great grandfather, my dad's grandfather, also died from gun violence," law student Jaxon Alston said. |
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