ATF’s Cekada Defends the Reform Package — NRA Says the Agency Is Finally Correcting the Record

NRA-ILA reported August 17, 2026 that ATF Director Robert Cekada is publicly correcting anti-gun characterizations of the agency’s reform NPRMs. Cekada’s Hill opinion piece, cited by NRA, says much of the package updates procedures that have not been revised in decades and aligns practice with recent court decisions under Executive Order 14206.

Two fights dominate. First: unwinding the Biden-era “engaged in the business” rule that tried to stretch dealer licensing — and therefore NICS — onto private sales. NRA notes a federal judge vacated that rule nationwide. Cekada: claiming repeal guts background checks is false; the 2024 rule expanded dealer status by regulation after Congress refused universal checks. Second: Form 4473 retention. Pre-2022 dealers kept records 20 years then sent them to the National Tracing Center; Biden-era policy made retention indefinite. ATF now proposes 20 or 30 years. NRA cites DOJ BJS 2019 inmate survey data: only about 10.1% of prisoners who had a gun at offense got it from a retail source — the rest street, theft, friends, family.

NRA says it commented on nine rules and did not rubber-stamp every detail. The thrust: ATF should fight violent crime, not warehouse lawful purchasers forever.