President Donald Trump has relieved U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has frequently raised the ire of pro-gun rights groups, of her AG duties.
On April 2, President Trump announced the change in a Truth Social post, and quickly tabbed Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as acting Attorney General.
“Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year,” the president wrote. “Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in crime across our Country, with murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900.”
Trump continued: “We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future, and our Deputy Attorney General, and a very talented and respected Legal Mind, Todd Blanche, will step in to serve as Acting Attorney General. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Bondi’s tenure as attorney general has had many ups and downs concerning the rights of gun owners. While she created a Second Amendment office in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division that is actively fighting laws infringing on the right to keep and bear arms, at the same time, the DOJ has become notorious for defending unconstitutional laws in court.
One particular bone of contention has been the DOJ’s insistence on defending what remains of the National Firearms Act (NFA) now that the tax aspect has been removed. Readers will remember that President Trump’s One Big Beautiful, signed last July 4, removed the $200 tax on suppressors, short-barreled rifles (SBRs), short-barreled shotguns (SBSs), and items defined as Any Other Weapons (AOWs), but left the registration requirements intact.
In fact, last December, federal lawmakers, disgruntled that the DOJ was fighting to preserve the NFA, sent a letter to AG Bondi explaining that Congress intended to completely repeal the NFA and asking the DOJ to stop defending the law in court.
“We write to inform the Department of Justice of Congress’s position and intent regarding ongoing litigation challenging the National Firearms Act’s (NFA) registration and transfer requirements for non-taxed NFA firearms, following the enactment of President Trump’s landmark Second Amendment victory in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA),” the December 11 letter stated. “In enacting this bill into law, Congress affirmed its position that the taxation and registration provisions of the National Firearms Act are inseparably linked, and it expressed its intent to repeal the NFA’s registration and transfer requirements by eliminating the associated taxes on certain firearms and silencers.”
For his part, Acting AG Blanche posted a note of thanks to President Trump for the new opportunity.
“Thank you to President Trump for the trust and the opportunity to serve as Acting Attorney General,” he wrote in the post on X. “We will continue backing the blue, enforcing the law and doing everything in our power to keep America safe.”