Two years ago, AmmoLand News published an article about Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Firearms Technology Industry Services Branch (FTISB) employees revolting over the promotion of Daniel Hoffman to the head of the branch.
The FTISB is part of the ATF’s Firearms and Ammunition Technology Division (FATD). The FTISB is responsible for classification letters for the firearms industry. Recently, the ATF has revoked classification letters for things like 80% firearms, bump stocks, and pistol stabilizing devices, although the courts largely have sided with the industry over the ATF’s regulations. Mr. Hoffman has very much taken the side of ATF Director Steven Dettelbach and President Joe Biden.
The leak showed employees were upset that Hoffman got promoted over more qualified candidates.
Before getting the nod, Mr. Hoffman was a Firearms Examination Officer (FEO) for four years. Besides the time as an FEO, Hoffman didn’t have experience working with the firearms industry. Sources inside the FITSB wondered how Hoffman got the promotion, but no one had any answers. In addition to Mr. Hoffman’s lack of experience, at the time, sources inside the FITSB told AmmoLand News that the now head of the branch had a “toxic personality.” We were informed of numerous alleged complaints against Hoffman by FITSB employees for his alleged unstable and explosive temper.
Gun Owners of America (GOA) took note of AmmoLand News reporting and filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to get ATF documents, such as the complaints filed against Hoffman by other ATF employees. The hope was to use these documents to shed some light on why the ATF would promote a low-level employee to the head of a powerful branch inside the ATF. The FITSB affects every aspect of the firearms industry.
This request led to a two-year battle with the ATF to get the documents. The ATF would finally relent and produce 318 pages for the gun rights group, and they shared those documents with AmmoLand News. When the documents were reviewed, it became evident that the ATF only produced the documents as an attempt to placate the gun rights group by turning over something. To our shock, the ATF completely redacted every document. Not a single line was left unredacted. After two years of fighting for the documents to help us answer questions about Mr. Hoffman’s character, we are left with even more questions than ever. One must wonder what the ATF is trying to hide.
GOA is appealing the release, asking for more unredacted information. It is in the public interest to know if the person who oversees the firearms industry for the United States government has anger issues. Knowing precisely how Mr. Hoffman got the job is also in the public interest. The old saying goes where there is smoke, there is fire. To many, releasing 318 pages of totally redacted documents after a two-year battle is a lot of smoke.
AmmoLand News is committed to getting to the truth and will not stop until we get to the bottom of the story. If you are an ATF employee or former ATF employee and have any information regarding the complaints against Mr. Hoffman, we want to speak with you.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. Mr. Crump has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
Doesn’t seem right that sending blank pages meets the right to know???
well, they weren’t exactly blank, they did have a couple sets of parenthesis, the letter b and number 6.
but, this is exactly what you get from a completely corrupt organization who is not held accountable government overseers and cannot be held accountable by citizens.
our whole government is corrupt. we don’t need 90% of the government employees that are sucking taxpayers dry and not in a good way.
Exemption (b)(6) permits the government to withhold all information about individuals in “personnel and medical files and similar files” when the disclosure of such information “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
NOPE! ESPECIALLY when the APPOINTMENT WAS DONE ON THE “SLY”! Just like Buttlebutt!
Yeah, I guess thats 318 pages of redacted awards and commendations out of his personnel file.
criminals in charge
This huge, massive joke of sending nothing but redactions to fulfill a legal REQUIREMENT, a LAW, which we all know hides total corruption, proves the ATF is useless and worthless. And lawbreaking, which means CRIMINAL. From now on all gun sale records sent in to the government should be 100% blacked out. As should the paychecks of all ATF employees. They expect YOU to fill every single field in a form out flawlessly but they show ZERO paperwork accountability themselves. If this is not government tyranny, please tell me what is.
Hey, ATF, I’m pretty sure I remember reading the unredacted version of all those pages. I think the gist was, “Per instructions from POTUS Biden and AGUS Garland, we’re promoting this guy because we want to trample and deny Americans’ rights and discriminate against lawful firearm businesses. We think this guy is mean and unstable enough to ignore his conscience and any underlings at the agency who have a conscience, and get the job done. We hate good people, and want evil and stupidity to triumph. Oh, and be sure to redact these files; we wouldn’t want anyone to know… Read more »
Bravo!
Another Bunch of Autocratic, Tyrannical, Fukhedded Excrement passed off as compliance by an above-the-law federal agency.
And I’d like you to meet my imaginary friend. He’ll have all the answers you seek.
An AI steps forth.
Nothing imaginaryabout thst 6 foot tall pink rabbit.
This is the smoking-gun proof that they are hiding something! Its long past time for a change!
Q: Why do dogs lick themselves?
A: Because they can.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and all you creatures in between, is all you need to know about why BATFE does the stuff they do.
BECAUSE THEY CAN!
They are allowed to break the law. Kind of like the immigration service.
Yes, “all you creatures in between”…we can not forget those who have not decided what gender they are yet.
They can ONLY BECAUSE we allow them to. If We the People refuse to tolerate their abuse and rescind power and authority, they can do NOTHING.
what did you expect from them, the truth?
The biggest thugs are alphabet agency ones!!!
Obviously, nothing to see here folks! Move along! MOVE ALONG NOW!
Move along, quickly now, or there will be a little rifle butt encouragement for you.
All they did was Xerox 317 pages of (b)(6) and send it.
If all the documentation is redacted as stated, then congress need to do an investigation and Ammoland needs to push for it. What BS. Did anyone see the interview the he head of ATF, diddledick? He had a glock in his hands and was trying to remove the slide, couldn’t do it. Grabbed another one and got the slide off and then was sayin how easy it is to take the slide and put it onto a “ghost gun”, home made pistol lower. I laughed my ass off when he couldn’t get the slide off and then when he tried… Read more »
He claimed that he had finished a P80 and fired it; yeah right. Maybe someone else did the actual work for him (violation of federal law)and he managed to put the slide on and fire it. It does take mechanical aptitude to complete a P80 and sometimes fiddling and hand fitting are necessary. I wouldn’t trust that guy to check tire pressure or put oil in the correct hole.
Oh and he also referred to a magazine as a clip.
this is the ATF giving americans the big middle finger. i wonder how high up this decision went. given the boob show on CBSfacedTheNation i doubt they had the balls to do this themselves. this came from very high up because none of the little people would dare do this without an OK. probably no trace though.
That’s about the most “in your face” response to a FOIA request I’ve heard of. They’re either taking the position that they, as rulers of us peasants, don’t have to have “no stinkin’ batches” (ie, give up information as required by law) or else there is something awful they’re wanting to hide, or both.
I’d love to see everyone who has ever taken an anti-2A position fired from the AFT without any pension. Ever.
Fuck up, move up is still very much alive at the ATF.
SO! Handing out 318 pages of BLACK BLANK pages PROVES the ATF BUREAUCRACY IS FAILING in their FIDUCIARY DUTY to be TRANSPARENT to the American People, to which the ATF bureaucracy ARE ACCOUNTABLE to for their ACTIONS!
EVERYONE who is involved with this COMMUNISTIC LUNATICAL BEHAVIOR MUST BE FIRED — OR — GIVE the REAL UNHINDERED, UNBLANKED, UNCENSORED INFORMATION you were asked to produce, BY a LAWFUL REQUEST!
I don’t know why you didn’t capitalize ALL of your blathering rant so it would at least be easier to read. BTW, did you have a point you were trying to make?
OK, understand this one central truth about the Progressive New Left. Merit is not required nor is it even considered when making any political assignment or promotion. Your Intersectional Algebra Score is the only qualifying concern. If you check enough boxes in the Victim Matrix you get the job. And your ideology is the final determining factor. That being said we know why Hoffman was appointed. What is important is the general public and those who put Joe Biden in the White House know the truth of the matter. This is a regimen where common sense is an uncommon virtue.… Read more »
Time is long over-due to defund the ATF. Also file a statement that they are all non-hirable for any future Government jobs!
I should send the IRS a fully redacted tax return. There is personal information of it…
John, your article should, but will never, be read on the six o:clock news so that the public is made aware of the governments tricks. all 318 pages.
Amazing…that they get away with it. And appalling…that they get away with it.
So.ething really must be done about that out-of-control agency, and all of this tyrannical government’s refusal to follow the law, the directives of the courts, and the Constitution