On July 1, 2025, Ohio Senator Jon Husted cast one of the 50 votes for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which cut the $200 federal tax on silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns to zero. A federal judge then held that, with the tax gone, the registration rules for those weapons had lost their constitutional basis, and the Justice Department let the ruling stand and stopped enforcing registration in most states in October 2026.
Husted cast the deciding vote to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general in August 2026, when the department decided not to appeal, and voted to confirm the ATF director who carried out the change. He also voted to confirm Pam Bondi, whose Justice Department ended the policy of revoking licenses from gun dealers who break the law and ended a $2,000,000 violence-intervention grant to the Cleveland Peacemakers, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose CDC lost most of its violence prevention staff. Ohio recorded 1,745 firearm deaths in 2024.
Jon Husted's Votes and Confirmations on Silencers, Gun Registration and the ATF
- Husted Cast One of the 50 Votes for the Law That Ended Federal Registration of Silencers and Short-Barreled Guns. On July 1, 2025, Jon Husted voted yes on H.R. 1, which passed 50 to 50 with the Vice President's vote. Section 70436 replaced the $200 federal tax on silencers, short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns with $0 for any firearm transferred which is not described in paragraph (1), starting January 1, 2026. On August 5, 2026, a federal judge in Texas held that zeroing the tax eliminated the constitutional basis for the NFA's regulation of those firearms. The Justice Department opted not to appeal the judge's decision, and on October 9, 2026 the ATF said it will also no longer require such items to be registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer record. The registry helps federal ATF agents trace the chain of firearm ownership, and Everytown says silencers make it difficult for bystanders to recognize that a gun has been fired.
- Husted Cast the Deciding Vote to Confirm Todd Blanche, Whose Justice Department Let the Registration Ruling Stand. Husted voted to confirm Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general on March 5, 2025 and as attorney general on August 8, 2026. The second vote was 50 to 49, so Blanche would not have been confirmed without Husted's vote. Under Blanche, The Justice Department opted not to appeal the judge's August 2026 ruling and applied it nationwide. Registration now applies only in one of about 15 states that have state laws requiring it.
- Husted Voted to Confirm the ATF Director Who Stopped Registering Silencers and Short-Barreled Guns. On April 29, 2026, Husted voted to confirm Robert Cekada as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; he was confirmed 59 to 39. Before his confirmation, Cekada wrote that budget cuts were eroding core enforcement operations and markedly constraining ATF's ability to help local police. In October 2026 his agency announced that it would stop registering silencers and short-barreled guns, going beyond the court's order, the ATF statement shows.
- Husted Voted to Confirm Pam Bondi, Whose Justice Department Eased Rules for Gun Dealers Who Break the Law. On February 4, 2025, Husted voted to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general; she was confirmed 54 to 46. In April 2025 Bondi's department ended the policy of revoking the licenses of dealers who willfully break the law, including selling a gun without a background check or falsifying business records, The Trace reported; an estimate The Trace cites says 5 percent of federally licensed gun sellers are responsible for 90 percent of recovered crime guns. In May 2025 the department settled a case to allow forced reset triggers, which enables semiautomatic rifles to fire faster than M16 machine guns. Under a rights-restoration rule, people who have served time for misdemeanor domestic violence offenses could apply 10 years after their sentence is up to regain gun rights, and by September 2025 80 percent of the ATF's roughly 2,500 agents had been pulled into immigration task force work. In April 2025 the department also ended community violence intervention grants, including an award to the Cleveland Peacemakers.
- Husted Voted to Confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Whose CDC Lost Most of Its Violence Prevention Staff. On February 13, 2025, Husted voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of health and human services; he was confirmed 52 to 48. In April 2025 the CDC's Division of Violence Prevention was cut, and its former director estimated that the unit lost about three-quarters of its staff. The CDC and NIH canceled $20 million in gun violence research grants, The Trace reported.
What Gun Deregulation and a Weakened ATF Mean in Ohio Under Jon Husted's Votes
- Violence intervention in Cleveland. The Cleveland Peacemakers lost a federal community violence intervention award with $1,700,000 still unspent when the Justice Department ended the grants in April 2025, according to Everytown's tally.
- Firearm deaths. Ohio recorded 1,745 firearm deaths in 2024, a rate of 14.6 per 100,000 people, against a national rate of 12.8, according to KFF's analysis of CDC data.
- Registration. Ohioans who buy a silencer or a short-barreled rifle or shotgun no longer pay the federal tax, and outside the states with their own registration laws they no longer register the weapon with the ATF, after the court ruling the Justice Department opted not to appeal.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jon Husted on Guns
What is Jon Husted's record on guns under Trump?
Jon Husted cast one of the 50 votes for the 2025 law that cut the federal tax on silencers and short-barreled guns to zero, after which a judge struck the registration rules and the Justice Department stopped enforcing them in most states. Husted cast the deciding vote to confirm Attorney General Todd Blanche, whose department declined to appeal, and voted to confirm the ATF director who carried out the change. He also voted to confirm Pam Bondi and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose agencies eased rules for law-breaking gun dealers, ended violence-intervention grants and cut gun violence research.
Did Jon Husted vote to deregulate silencers?
Jon Husted voted for the 2025 law that set the federal tax on silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns at $0. The law itself kept registration, but a judge then held that without the tax the registration rules could not stand, and the Justice Department under Todd Blanche, whom Husted voted to confirm, opted not to appeal.
What happened to violence-prevention money in Cleveland?
Under Attorney General Pam Bondi, whom Jon Husted voted to confirm, the Justice Department ended community violence intervention grants in April 2025, and the Cleveland Peacemakers lost an award with $1,700,000 left to spend. Nationally, the CDC and NIH also canceled $20 million in gun violence research grants.
Last updated: 2026-10-25