In April 2021, the Biden administration announced six executive actions on gun control: a rule targeting untraceable “ghost guns,” a rule on pistol stabilizing braces, model red flag legislation for states, a revived federal firearms trafficking report, expanded support for community violence intervention programs, and the nomination of a permanent ATF director. Despite the common label, the Biden executive orders on gun control were not formal numbered executive orders published in the Federal Register. They were administrative directives instructing federal agencies to act within existing law. By 2026, one has been upheld by the Supreme Court, one has been vacated in federal court, one nomination failed outright, and the rest survive in various forms.
The Ghost Gun Rule
The first action directed the ATF to close the loophole around partially completed frames and receivers, often sold as “80% receivers.” Before the rule, buyers could purchase these unfinished components online, finish them at home, and assemble working firearms with no serial number and no background check. Police called the finished weapons ghost guns because they could not be traced.
ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F, signed by the Attorney General on April 11, 2022, expanded the regulatory definition of “frame or receiver” to include partially complete, disassembled, or nonfunctional components that can be quickly and easily made functional, and clarified when a parts kit qualifies as a firearm.1Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Summary of Final Rule 2021R-05F Manufacturers and sellers of these kits must now hold a Federal Firearms License, mark every frame and receiver with a serial number, and run a NICS background check before any commercial sale.
The rule also created a new category, “Privately Made Firearm” (PMF): a completed weapon lacking a serial number that was not produced by a licensed manufacturer. When a licensed dealer takes a PMF into inventory, the dealer must serialize it, log it, complete an ATF Form 4473, and run a NICS check before transferring it to anyone other than the original owner.2Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Definition of Frame or Receiver and Identification of Firearms
In March 2025, the Supreme Court ruled 7–2 in Bondi v. VanDerStok that the ATF’s expanded definitions are consistent with the Gun Control Act of 1968. Justice Gorsuch, writing for the majority, found that ghost gun kits “clearly qualify” as firearms under the statute.3Supreme Court of the United States. Bondi v. VanDerStok, No. 23-852 The rule remains in effect in 2026, and the current administration did not intervene to challenge it. Given the lopsided margin, a future challenge on the same grounds would face steep odds.
The Stabilizing Brace Rule
The second action directed the DOJ to clarify when a pistol equipped with a stabilizing brace becomes a short-barreled rifle under the National Firearms Act. Under the NFA, a rifle with a barrel shorter than 16 inches or an overall length under 26 inches is a short-barreled rifle subject to heightened regulation.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5845 – Definitions Stabilizing braces were originally designed to help disabled shooters fire large pistols one-handed, but manufacturers increasingly marketed them as shoulder-stock substitutes, turning pistols into compact rifles without triggering NFA requirements.
ATF Final Rule 2021R-08F set out criteria for determining when a braced pistol crossed that line, based on the weapon’s weight, length, brace design, and how the manufacturer promoted it.5U.S. Department of Justice. Justice Department Announces New Rule to Address Stabilizing Braces, Accessories Used to Convert Pistols into Short-Barreled Rifles Owners had a 120-day window ending May 31, 2023 to come into compliance without penalty. During that window, owners could register the weapon as a short-barreled rifle tax-free using an ATF e-Form 1, bypassing the usual $200 making tax.6Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Affected Parties and Their Options Under the Stabilizing Brace Final Rule Other options were removing the brace, replacing the barrel with one at least 16 inches long, surrendering the firearm to the ATF, or destroying it.
This rule did not survive. In June 2024, a federal judge in the Northern District of Texas held in Mock v. Garland that the rule violated the Administrative Procedure Act and ordered it vacated.7United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Case No. 23-3230 The Trump administration dropped its appeal in July 2025, making that ruling the final word on the specific factoring criteria in 2021R-08F.
Braced firearms are not entirely unregulated as a result. The ATF maintains that it can still classify individual braced weapons as short-barreled rifles under the underlying NFA definitions on a case-by-case basis. The vacated rule’s factoring criteria are gone, but the statute itself still defines what a short-barreled rifle is. Litigation over whether this case-by-case enforcement effectively re-imposes the vacated rule is ongoing as of early 2026. Owners who registered a braced weapon during the 2023 compliance window keep a valid registration; those who modified or surrendered a firearm cannot undo those choices.
Model Red Flag Legislation for States
The third action directed the Department of Justice to publish model legislation for Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), commonly known as red flag laws. These laws allow family members, law enforcement, or other authorized individuals to petition a court for a temporary order removing firearms from someone who poses a serious danger to themselves or others.8Department of Justice. Commentary for Extreme Risk Protection Order Model Legislation
The federal role was advisory. The model addressed who may file a petition, how courts should evaluate evidence, what due process protections the subject of the order receives, and how long an order can last, but states decide whether to adopt these laws and how to write them.9United States Department of Justice. Justice Department Issues Proposed Rule and Model Legislation to Reduce Gun Violence The 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act went further by creating federal grant funding for state ERPO programs that meet minimum due process standards, including notice, a hearing, an unbiased adjudicator, the right to present and confront evidence, and the right to counsel.10Congress.gov. Text – 117th Congress (2021-2022): Bipartisan Safer Communities Act As of 2026, twenty-two states plus the District of Columbia have enacted some form of ERPO law.
Firearms Trafficking Report
The fourth action directed the DOJ to produce an annual report on firearms trafficking, something the ATF had not published since 2000. The resulting National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment (NFCTA) is a multi-volume study of how firearms enter illegal markets, the most common trafficking methods, and the time between a gun’s legal sale and its recovery at a crime scene.11Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF Releases Comprehensive Firearms Trafficking Report
The report identified straw purchases, where someone legally eligible to buy a firearm purchases one on behalf of a prohibited person, as a dominant trafficking method. It also tracked illegal firearms movement across state lines, giving law enforcement updated intelligence on trafficking corridors for the first time in more than two decades. Whether further trafficking studies will follow under the current administration is unclear.
Community Violence Intervention Funding
The fifth action directed federal agencies to steer existing resources toward Community Violence Intervention (CVI) programs. Rather than focusing only on policing and prosecution, CVI takes a public-health approach: street outreach workers, hospital-based intervention teams, and community organizations in neighborhoods with the highest rates of shootings. The directive involved multiple agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, and required changes to more than two dozen federal programs to make funding more accessible.
CVI funding received a further boost through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which authorized additional grant money through the DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Assistance for community-based violence intervention and prevention initiatives.10Congress.gov. Text – 117th Congress (2021-2022): Bipartisan Safer Communities Act The statutory grant programs remain in place, though executive-branch spending priorities have shifted.
ATF Director Nomination
The sixth action was a personnel decision: the nomination of David Chipman, a former ATF agent and gun-control advocate, to serve as the agency’s permanent director. The ATF had operated without a Senate-confirmed director since 2015.
Chipman’s nomination drew opposition from gun-rights organizations and enough bipartisan resistance in the Senate that the White House withdrew it in September 2021. It was the only one of the six actions that failed outright, and the ATF has continued to operate under acting leadership for most of the period since.
Status of the Six Actions in 2026
In February 2025, the current administration issued an executive order titled “Protecting Second Amendment Rights,” directing the Attorney General to review all Biden-era firearms regulations and present a plan addressing any actions that “may have impinged on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.”12The White House. Protecting Second Amendment Rights That review covers each of the six actions.
- Ghost gun rule: upheld by the Supreme Court in Bondi v. VanDerStok in March 2025 and still in effect.
- Stabilizing brace rule: vacated by the Northern District of Texas in Mock v. Garland in June 2024; appeal dropped in July 2025. The ATF still claims case-by-case enforcement authority under the underlying NFA definitions.
- Red flag model legislation: the DOJ model remains published, 22 states plus D.C. have enacted ERPO laws, and BSCA grant funding remains statutory law.
- Firearms trafficking report: the NFCTA was completed across multiple volumes; future volumes are uncertain.
- Community violence intervention funding: statutory grant programs remain available, but executive spending priorities have shifted.
- ATF director nomination: withdrawn in September 2021; the agency continues under acting leadership.