The Trump Department of Justice (DOJ) is backing a Biden-era gun rule over objections from Second Amendment advocates.
The administration intends to maintain the Biden administration’s “Frame or Receiver” definition, which subjects firearm parts kits, or “ghost guns,” to the same regulations as traditional firearms, according to an email shared by Gun Owners of America.
“On the campaign trail, President Trump promised to end Biden’s ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] rules, and just last week the White House appeared to affirm his commitment to ending what it called the three major attacks on gun owners by the Biden administration,” Gun Owners of America Director of Federal Affairs Aidan Johnston said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Yet, all three major Biden ATF rules are in full effect: the Pistol Brace Ban Rule, the Engaged in the Business Rule, and now the Frame and Receiver Rule,” Johnston said. “Gun owners feel betrayed and abandoned as we head into the midterms. Promises made have not yet been kept. We encourage President Trump to clean house at the Department of Justice, to use the appointment of a new Attorney General to revamp the department’s gun policy, and to execute on his campaign promises to gun owners.”
The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“As you know, in VanDerStock v. Blanche (N.D. Texas), the government previously requested a stay to evaluate ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F in light of Executive Order 14206 (‘Protecting Second Amendment Rights’),” a DOJ attorney wrote in the email shared on X. “At this time, the government has decided to maintain the current definition of firearm ‘frame’ and ‘receiver’ contained in that final rule.”
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in February 2025 on “Protecting Second Amendment Rights,” which the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) said Friday has “proven to be little more than empty rhetoric.”
The Supreme Court upheld the Biden administration’s rule in March 2025.
“In May 2025, FPC provided the Trump White House, DOJ, and ATF with a complete, print-ready proposed rule to address the Court’s decision following months of dialogue with key officials,” FPC said in a statement. “But the Administration has since sat on its hands.”
“Whoever is steering the Trump Administration is aiming the Titanic directly at the iceberg,” FPC said.
Firearms advocacy groups have become increasingly frustrated by opposition from the DOJ in court. Though the DOJ launched a new Second Amendment Rights division in December, many groups remained skeptical.
Still, the DOJ has taken some steps that have pleased advocacy groups.
In April 2025, the DOJ and ATF repealed the Biden administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, which forced stringent standards on federal firearms dealers that led to licenses being revoked over paperwork errors. It also proposed a rule in July that “will provide citizens whose firearm rights are currently under legal disability with an avenue to restore those rights.”
At the Supreme Court, the DOJ is backing a challenge to Hawaii’s concealed-carry restrictions.
“The Frame/Receiver rule is not a law passed by Congress that the DOJ will usually default to defending due to the Executive’s constitutional duty to see to it that the laws are faithfully executed,” Second Amendment Foundation Director of Legal Research and Education Kostas Moros wrote on X. “It’s just a rule adopted by one Admin, and the next is free to scrap it. They don’t have to keep it, and until now, it looked like they weren’t going to. Clearly, something abruptly changed.”
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