We have the topline election results, but we don’t know everything for sure yet. Many House and some Senate races have yet to be called.
Still, what we do have is enough to give us a pretty good idea of what will be possible for gun policy under the new Republican Federal trifecta led by Donald Trump. That’s why we’ve brought back Cam Edwards of Bearing Arms to help dissect what’s likely from what’s possible.
Cam said if the Republican Senate majority lands somewhere between 52 and 53, as it seems likely to, and they hold an equally slim House majority, there is little reason to think major gun bills are coming in the near future. Although, he also agreed the larger the Senate majority, the greater the odds Republicans nuke the filibuster and open up more legislative possibilities–even if he doesn’t like the idea or think it’s likely to happen.
Instead, Cam said the biggest movement on gun policy is likely to come through executive branch action. He predicted Trump would follow through on promises to undo the rules President Joe Biden has enacted, such as the pistol-brace and “ghost gun” bans. Same for firing Biden’s ATF Director.
Cam was less certain about how far Trump might go with appointing a new director or pursuing his own pro-gun rules. He argued judicial appointments are likely to be the most impactful moves Trump will make when it comes to gun policy. He said Trump may end up appointing several more Supreme Court Justices, who will serve for decades.
Then, Cam gives his view on Trump’s wild card nature and whether that could actually lead to some new gun restrictions as well. Or whether he’s given up on trying to make any kind of deal with Democrats after the past four years.
You can listen to the show on your favorite podcasting app or by clicking here. Video of the episode is available on our YouTube channel. An auto-generated transcript is here. Reload Members get access on Sunday, as always. Everyone else can listen on Monday.
A free 30-day trial of The Dispatch is available here.
Plus, Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I break down what we know so far about the results of the 2024 election, including the likely balance of power in Congress. We cover what that might mean for gun policy and how the national gun groups influenced that outcome with their election spending. We also covered a couple of key gun-related down ballot races that broke in favor of gun-control advocates and discussed why guns likely played a marginal role this cycle.
