Gun Owners of America (GOA) is sounding the alarm: the Department of Justice is actively defending Biden’s “zero tolerance” firearm dealer license revocation scheme—even under the Trump administration. That’s a head-scratcher.
Here’s the scoop: early in Biden’s term, ATF launched a policy that triggered automatic revocation of federal firearms dealer licenses—even for minor, unintentional paperwork errors.
Dealers found themselves losing their livelihoods over clerical slips. Within two years, revocations had surged six-fold.
GOA pushed back. In 2023 they filed lawsuits on behalf of Morehouse Enterprises in North Dakota and Kill & Tactical in Florida, challenging the policy’s constitutionality.
As these cases progressed, ATF would quietly drop the revocation, only to ask courts to dismiss the case as “moot”—effectively playing whack-a-mole with legal challenges.
They didn’t back down. GOA took the fight all the way.
In one case, ATF actually argued the policy didn’t implicate the Second Amendment or violate federal law. They claimed that dealers have no constitutional right to sell firearms—something the White House publicly disputes. That kind of legal contortion could allow a ban on all gun sales, blinking out the Second Amendment entirely.
Then Trump won again and reversed course, issuing executive orders that dismantled zero tolerance. His team even acknowledged that Biden’s ATF had weaponized the agency to punish law-abiding small business owners.
SEE ALSO: Trump Signs Executive Order to End ‘Woke Banking’
Given that reversal, everyone expected DOJ to support GOA’s lawsuits. Surprisingly, they’re doubling down on defense of the policy.
GOA now calls DOJ’s position an “open rebellion” against the Trump administration. DOJ lawyers still argue: (1) the policy didn’t cause any injury; (2) revocations weren’t automatic; (3) the Second Amendment doesn’t protect dealers’ commercial activity.
Yet ATF itself has admitted the policy was automatic and that minor mistakes punished honest dealers. These contradictions are all laid out in GOA’s latest brief at the D.C. Circuit Court.
GOA’s concern?
Without a binding court judgment declaring the policy unconstitutional, a future anti-gun administration could simply reinstate zero tolerance—again killing small businesses with a stroke. That’s not theoretical: that’s the reality GOA wants to stop.
It’s a stark illustration of how executive policy and court fights can pull in different directions—even under the same administration. DOJ should be defending Trump’s reversal, not doubling down on the prior regime’s abuses. Instead, dealers remain at risk.
Why this matters: If zero-tolerance policies stand without a legal check, any future administration could weaponize the ATF at will. A government that can revoke your license for paperwork errors essentially controls who can stay in business, regardless of the Constitution.
Bottom line: GOA is asking a simple question—why is DOJ defending a policy that even the White House opposes?
Dealers deserve clarity.
The Second Amendment shouldn’t hang in the balance because a legal team refuses to acknowledge what their own agency admitted.
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is a seasoned outdoorsman, lifelong hunter, and the kind of guy who’d rather track whitetails than scroll social media. As an editor for GunsAmerica, he’s got a sharp eye for spotting both solid gear and bad gun laws. Whether he’s deep in the woods or deep in editorial deadlines, Larry brings a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is approach to firearms, hunting, and the great American tradition of self-reliance. If there’s a hot debate on gun rights or the latest in hunting tech, you can bet Larry’s got an opinion—and it’s probably backed up with both facts and field experience.
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Does something Trump does become Biden’s fault as soon as you realize it’s bad, or do they have to tell you it’s Biden’s fault before Trump does it? This is Trump’s DOJ. This is Donald “TAKE THE GUNS FIRST, WORRY ABOUT DUE PROCESS LATER” Trump’s orders being carried out. This is him doing exactly what we warned you he would do. This is what you voted for. THE ENEMY IS INSIDE THE HOUSE.
Unsurprising 😐. Despite the rhetoric that dupes many a gunowner, Trump is not pro-2A and isn’t going to be reining in his attack dog, Blondi.
Thousands of seedy democrats , employed for decades, hidden in the government, doing their Marxist ideological evil. They can only be removed when they tip their hands. Hopefully, the firings and offered retirement packages has removed a large percentage of them.
Obviously there are left over Democrat operatives in all these agencies. It is going to take time to weed the snakes out of the tall grass.
Sorry but I don’t believe in allowing errors in paperwork. If someone makes an error, the paperwork should be revoked until the entity can file the paperwork correctly. The zero tolerance was overkill. There are too many ways to abuse the system in allowing errors to come through which can potentially put weapons in the hands of criminals. Worst case scenario is actually allowing criminals to become dealers so no… Revocation should continue until the paperwork is correct.
All gun dealers should meet a minimum security protocol also. We had a “mom and pop” shop in my area years ago that eventually lost their license. A kid could’ve broken into their shop and stolen guns and in fact… That’s exactly what happened. Some teenagers broke in and stole all the guns and although they were eventually caught, not all the guns were recovered.
Ever sell guns as a dealer? Back in the day, the ATF actually worked WITH the dealers, and that IS what the ATF was originally intended to be, a simple oversight Agency ensuring the rules were followed and that things went as planned. They were Never intended for this. My ATF guy was very professional, and simply went over the books, flushed out errors and saw that those errors were corrected. Simple as that. MOST of those errors were very small, nothing to call for a cessation of business. That is a very unusual thing actually.
So really, this nonsense of revocation is just silly, bordering on pathetic from a standpoint of the Law and business of running the firearms industry oversight.
Based on that logic, then the Federal government should be held to the same standard and maybe they could be put out of business. It’s also amusing to suggest the criminals may be getting guns because of these clerical errors. News flash, criminals will get guns regardless of paperwork. That’s why they are criminals.
All while the Bryan Malinowski was determined by Sixth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Will Jones that the “had a reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary to defend himself.” ATF gets 100% tolerance on the planning and implementation of a raid where AFTY Agents were NOT wearing body cameras. Why NOT let FFLs investigate themselves?
can’t buy a gun, can’t make your own………sounds like a good way to abolish the 2a without abolishing it!