On July 1, 2025, Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts 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.
In February 2025 Ricketts was an original cosponsor of the Hearing Protection Act, a bill to remove silencers from federal firearms rules. He 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 community violence-intervention grants, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose CDC lost most of its violence prevention staff. Nebraska recorded 218 firearm deaths in 2024.
Pete Ricketts's Votes and Confirmations on Silencers, Gun Registration and the ATF
- Ricketts Cast One of the 50 Votes for the Law That Ended Federal Registration of Silencers and Short-Barreled Guns. On July 1, 2025, Pete Ricketts 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.
- Ricketts Cosponsored the Bill to Take Silencers Out of Federal Firearms Rules. Pete Ricketts is an original cosponsor of S. 364, the Hearing Protection Act, introduced on February 3, 2025, and the bill's cosponsor line reads Mr. Marshall, Mr. Cramer, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Justice, Mr. Graham, Mr. Rounds, Mr. Ricketts. The bill would amend the tax code to remove silencers from the definition of firearms under the National Firearms Act. Much of what the bill sought happened after the 2025 law zeroed the silencer tax: by October 2026 the ATF said it will also no longer require such items to be registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer record, removing the record that helps federal ATF agents trace the chain of firearm ownership.
- Ricketts Cast the Deciding Vote to Confirm Todd Blanche, Whose Justice Department Let the Registration Ruling Stand. Ricketts 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 Ricketts'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.
- Ricketts Voted to Confirm the ATF Director Who Stopped Registering Silencers and Short-Barreled Guns. On April 29, 2026, Ricketts 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.
- Ricketts Voted to Confirm Pam Bondi, Whose Justice Department Eased Rules for Gun Dealers Who Break the Law. On February 4, 2025, Ricketts 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 for groups across the country.
- Ricketts Voted to Confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Whose CDC Lost Most of Its Violence Prevention Staff. On February 13, 2025, Ricketts 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 Nebraska Under Pete Ricketts's Votes
- Firearm deaths. Nebraska recorded 218 firearm deaths in 2024, a rate of 10.9 per 100,000 people, according to KFF's analysis of CDC data.
- Registration. Nebraskans 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 Pete Ricketts on Guns
What is Pete Ricketts's record on guns under Trump?
Pete Ricketts 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. Ricketts 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 is an original cosponsor of the bill to take silencers out of federal firearms rules, and he 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 Pete Ricketts vote to deregulate silencers?
Pete Ricketts 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 Ricketts voted to confirm, opted not to appeal.
Does Pete Ricketts support the Hearing Protection Act?
Yes. Pete Ricketts is an original cosponsor of S. 364, the Hearing Protection Act, which would remove silencers from the definition of firearms in federal law. He also voted for the 2025 law that set the federal silencer tax at $0, and the ATF later stopped registering silencers in most states.
Last updated: 2026-10-25