Federal gun policy may be headed for a major reset after the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives released new documents outlining how it intends to roll back several high-profile regulations adopted in recent years. The agency’s latest publications indicate that multiple rules that reshaped how certain firearms and gun businesses are treated under federal law could be formally withdrawn.

At the center of the changes are three regulations that have drawn intense debate over roughly the last seven years. The ATF’s newly published details point toward eliminating each of these measures through the federal rulemaking process, which would remove them from the books once completed.

One of the targeted rules is the pistol brace regulation, a policy that affected how braced pistols were classified and whether they would be treated similarly to firearms regulated under the National Firearms Act. Another is the rule commonly associated with “ghost guns,” which addressed the status of privately made firearms and items such as frames and receivers. The third is the firearm dealer rule, which changed how federal authorities interpret who is considered to be “engaged in the business” of dealing firearms and therefore required to obtain a federal firearms license.

From a libertarian-leaning perspective, the significance of the ATF’s move is that it signals a retreat from regulatory expansions that many gun owners and small businesses viewed as unclear, burdensome, or beyond what Congress explicitly authorized. Supporters of the rollbacks argue that major shifts in gun law should be decided by lawmakers rather than implemented through agency rule changes that can rapidly alter compliance expectations.

For now, the key development is the publication of the agency’s rollback plans and supporting information, which lays out the path for these rules to “officially disappear” if the process is carried through. The outcome will determine whether the three controversial regulations remain in force or are replaced by a return to prior federal interpretations.