ATF Director Cekada Vows to Repeal Biden Rules, Stays Put
ATF Director Robert Cekada says the agency will keep moving to repeal Biden-era rules, and he is not backing down after the recent midterm results. Cekada made the comments Monday, one day after a flight with Attorney General Todd Blanche, the 88th Attorney General of the United States, where the two men discussed the election and ATF's priorities. Cekada said his answer to the results is simple. He will not change course. Cekada says he is personally handling the return of guns seized from three men who received pardons from President Donald J. Trump. For gun owners, the message is clear: the agency intends to finish its rulemaking, not slow it down.
Key Details
The reporting centers on specific commitments and claims from Cekada. Here is what he said and what he is doing:
- Who: ATF Director Robert Cekada, speaking Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, after a Sunday night flight with Attorney General Todd Blanche.
- Rulemaking: Cekada says he is "pushing all of the rules" the agency calls modernization and will "repeal all of the old Biden rules."
- Timeline: Cekada said formalizing a rule takes "almost two years," which he argues gives Congress time to act.
- Job security: Cekada said he is "not going anywhere unless the President fires me."
- Returned firearms: Cekada is personally overseeing the return of guns seized from three men pardoned by President Trump. Those men were charged and convicted of violating the Biden-era zero-tolerance policy.
- Pastor Russell Fincher: Fincher lost all of his guns when Biden-era ATF agents raided his home and pointed weapons at him and his young son. After his pardon, he is discussing the return of his firearms with Cekada.
- Former staffer: Cekada criticized former ATF assistant director Marianna Mitchem, now an official with Everytown for Gun Safety, accusing her of providing false statistics to the press.
Background
The current fight traces back to the Supreme Court's 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. Bruen replaced the two-step means-end scrutiny used by lower courts with a test grounded in the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation. Under Bruen, the government must point to a historical analogue for a modern restriction. That standard has since forced courts to weigh federal agency actions more skeptically. The Biden administration used ATF rulemaking to expand federal control in several areas. The most prominent was the 2022 rule addressing frames and receivers, which targeted unfinished parts kits and ghost guns. The Supreme Court upheld that rule in Garland v. VanDerStok in 2025, although the case turned on the statute's text rather than the Second Amendment. Biden's ATF also pursued aggressive enforcement against licensed dealers under a zero-tolerance approach to paperwork violations. Critics on the gun-rights side argued that approach revoked licenses over technical errors. Cekada's current position reflects a reversal of that enforcement posture, not just a change in tone.
Why It Matters for Gun Owners
Rule changes at ATF hit three groups first: licensed dealers, manufacturers of parts and accessories, and people with prior paperwork or technical violations. A dealer who works under a new interpretation can keep inventory moving. A buyer who owns a homemade or kit-built firearm may face a different enforcement picture under a revised frame-and-receiver standard. Any owner whose guns were taken in a federal case should track whether the return process Cekada describes applies to cases beyond the three pardoned men.
States matter as much as Washington here. Several states have passed their own rules on ghost guns, serialization, and dealer requirements, and those laws do not change because ATF does. A rollback at the federal level leaves state law fully in force. Owners in California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Washington should read their state statutes rather than assume a federal repeal lifts state restrictions.
Watch the Federal Register. Proposed rules have to be published, open for comment, and finalized. Cekada's own estimate of nearly two years means any repeal will take time, and litigation from either side can delay it further. Until a final rule takes effect, the current regulations remain the law.
DownRange Analysis
Cekada's timeline is the most honest part of his statement. Under the Administrative Procedure Act, the agency must justify each change on the record, and any repeal will face lawsuits from gun-control groups. Under Bruen, a rollback is easier to defend when the agency shows that the original rule lacked a historical or statutory basis. The strongest repeals will rest on statutory text rather than policy preference, because courts have shown they will check agency reasoning.
The market will react to certainty more than rhetoric. Dealers and manufacturers have spent years adjusting to shifting ATF guidance, and they want a stable rulebook more than a loud director. Gun owners should keep records of purchases, serial numbers, and transfers, and should keep copies of any ATF correspondence. If you have a pending matter with ATF, get written confirmation before you act on a verbal assurance from anyone, including the director. Cekada's promises are only as durable as the rules he finalizes.
