ATF Chief Counsel Robert Leider Explains the Bureau's New Gun Rules

ATF Chief Counsel Robert Leider Explains the Bureau's New Gun Rules

From The Weekly Reload Podcast by Stephen Gutowski

May 18, 2026 · 56 min

About this episode

ATF Chief Counsel Robert Leider discusses the bureau's new gun rule proposals and their implications for gun owners and dealers.

This week, we're speaking directly to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). The bureau just released dozens of new gun rule proposals. We've examined the details of them ourselves, we've discussed them with representatives of the gun industry, and now we're hearing directly from the man who spearheaded the effort. That's ATF Chief Counsel Robert Leider. He joins the show to explain the bureau's thinking on the dozens of changes. He claims the ATF's goal was to streamline and, especially, modernize the gun buying process. Leider said the goal was both to remove burdens on gun owners and gun dealers, especially as a contrast to the previous administration's "zero-tolerance" approach to industry oversight. He said he looked to shrink the background check form down as small as possible while still complying with federal law. Leider also said he found ways to shrink the burden on gun businesses as well, primarily by allowing them to store records electronically and by reducing how long they need to keep them. He then responded to criticism that the time should be reduced even further than what the ATF has proposed. Additionally, Leider directly said the rule…

People in this episode

Host: Stephen Gutowski

Guest: Robert Leider

Topics covered

  • gun rules
  • ATF
  • background checks
  • gun ownership
  • regulatory changes

Keywords

  • ATF
  • gun rules
  • background checks
  • gun ownership
  • regulatory changes
  • Robert Leider
  • gun industry

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, ATF, gun industry, previous administration

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