A policy win by conservative Second Amendment supporters complicates the Trump administration’s prosecution of three alleged anti-police extremists.

Levi Belcher, Anthony Slota, and Tadashi Erekson face federal charges of possessing an unregistered short-barreled rifle after Alabama police searched their home in September. President Donald Trump’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced last week that it would no longer enforce the law against that offense starting Oct. 9 — four days after grand jurors indicted the Alabama defendants. The Department of Justice has not explained whether the change affects criminal cases filed before Oct. 9.

Authorities began tracking the Alabama defendants over Belcher’s alleged threats against immigration officers, another case reflecting Trump’s promised crackdown on the violent far Left. As of now, Trump’s officials are in the awkward position of furthering that agenda with charges that his conservative base widely consider unjust.

Belcher’s legal team and the DOJ did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment. Federal court records did not yet list attorneys for Slota and Erekson.

The ATF decision came after a lawsuit by right-leaning gun groups prompted a federal judge to block portions of the 1934 National Firearms Act as unconstitutional in August. That includes the registration requirements that the Alabama defendants are accused of violating. Plaintiffs such as the National Rifle Association celebrated the ATF’s promise to stop enforcement nationwide.

“From this guidance, we were very much focused on figuring out a path on extending the benefits of the injunction not only to the plaintiffs in this case, but frankly to all the American people who were law-abiding citizens so that they can enjoy their Second Amendment freedoms as well,” Trump-appointed ATF Director Robert Cekada said in a Saturday interview on a firearms podcast.

“Material changes in legal or factual circumstances could cause [National Firearms Act] enforcement to resume,” the ATF’s website warned.

Defendants linked to leftist Second Amendment movement

Federal law enforcement tracked down Belcher after linking him to December 2025 social media posts allegedly saying he would “gun down” immigration officers “on sight” and showing off a rifle. In September, ATF agents looking for Belcher in Decatur saw him and Slota leaving a vehicle with body armor, guns, “rifle magazines stored in a tactical configuration,” and “military style backpacks,” federal court documents allege.

The ATF enlisted Huntsville police for help with a traffic stop that led them to gun magazines in the vehicle, which were marked with statements such as “I hate the police,” according to an ATF agent’s complaint. Authorities arrested the pair that night and Erekson during a search of their shared apartment. The Huntsville home allegedly had numerous weapons and “indications of anarchist and antifascist ideology,” an FBI agent wrote.

Slota, who identifies as transgender, showed an affinity for firearms training and the Second Amendment as protection for “trans girls” on an Instagram account that formerly used his name. “GET YOUR FRIENDS AND GUNS TOGETHER FOR A [conversation] ABOUT WHO TO PROTECT YOUR COMMUNITY FROM,” Slota posted on Sept. 10 just before getting arrested.

Slota’s post also showed an armed trio in a forest with their faces censored. Armed leftist groups around the country grew since Trump’s first term to prepare for possible conflict with political enemies, the Washington Examiner previously reported.

The gun enthusiast said under questioning that “he and Belcher would ‘cop watch meaning they would follow law enforcement … around as a means of protecting the community,” the FBI’s complaint against Belcher says. Erekson “shared extreme contempt towards law enforcement,” the ATF complaint alleged.

Belcher ended up facing the most legal trouble of the three. The DOJ accused him of threatening communications and unregistered rifle possession, while authorities charged him at the local level with possessing a sawed-off shotgun, an illegal drug, and a pistol despite being underage, the FBI complaint shows.

Madison County officials also gave Slota and Erekson the local sawed-off rifle charge. Additionally, the county accused Erekson of obstructing governmental operations, with the ATF complaint alleging he tried to reach for a handgun during his arrest.

Before the ATF’s enforcement decision, Alabama was joining the right-leaning political pressure against the National Firearms Act. A Sept. 4 letter from Republican Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and other attorneys general called on members of Congress to repeal the provisions blocked in court.

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“For decades, the [National Firearms Act] has imposed substantial burdens on the exercise of Second Amendment rights by law-abiding citizens,” the letter said.

“Repealing these provisions will provide clear, uniform rules nationwide,” the attorneys general wrote. “We respectfully urge you to take up this issue.”