President Trump’s Executive Order Expands LEOSA Carry Rights

On January 18^th, President Trump signed an “Executive Order on Protecting Law Enforcement Officers, Judges, Prosecutors, And Their Families.” The order aims to provide for more federal law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges to be able to carry firearms for personal protection.

The order implements several policy changes, but the primary change is “to remove any undue obstacle preventing current or retired Federal law enforcement officers from carrying a concealed firearm as allowed under the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2004 (“LEOSA”).” LEOSA, also commonly referred to by its bill number H.R. 218, is a federal law that generally provides that certain current and retired law enforcement officers can carry a firearm notwithstanding certain state laws restricting the carry of firearms.

To implement this new policy, the order requires federal agencies that employ law enforcement officers to submit a report to the president regarding their implementation of the order within 30 days of the date of the order.

In addition to the LEOSA policy change, the order also implements a change in policy for carry rights for federal prosecutors. Under current law, some prosecutors have been made special Deputy United States Marshals. The order requires the attorney general to create a new regulation to provide a clear policy for the process of making prosecutors special deputies.

The final change the order makes requires the attorney general to submit legislation to expand upon the existing protections of LEOSA.

With President Biden taking office only a few days after the signing of this new order, it’s not clear how the new administration will implement the order. Biden was a member of the Senate when H.R. 218 passed with unanimous consent. However, he has since become increasing hostile to any Americans exercising their right to bear arms. Without presidential action, the affected agencies must comply with the order.