Soon after the Senate confirmed Pam Bondi as Attorney General of the United States, reports surfaced of internal discussions that the next Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) should be a “nonideological” and “seasoned” “law enforcement officer.”1 That would be a mistake.
If the ATF’s abuses of the past several decades have taught us anything, it is that now is not the time for a business-as-usual, “law and order” candidate to head the federal government’s anti-gun bureaucracy. To the contrary, President Trump’s historic reelection mandate calls for a different approach to law enforcement and federal bloat: an ardent constitutionalist who sees the federal government as too big and federal regulations as too many.
That is why Gun Owners of America applauded the President’s choice of Kash Patel to head the FBI, and Elon Musk to head the much-needed Department of Government Efficiency. Indeed, if President Trump’s eclectic second-term personnel picks have a unifying theme, it is that they are not career bureaucrats. The same principle should apply to the agency tasked with enforcing the nation’s far-too-many gun regulations.
Speaking to GOA members during his 2024 reelection campaign, President Trump promised that he would “always defend” the Second Amendment.2 Right now, that means appointing a constitutionalist who will reduce the size of an ATF run amok, not a career “law and order” official who will continue to victimize American gun owners.
Consider, for example, prior ATF Directors’ ideas of “law and order”:
It was not “law and order” when federal agents shot both Randy Weaver and his son Samuel in the back, and then shot Vicki Weaver in the face as she held her newborn baby – all over the alleged sale of a shotgun whose barrel was a couple inches too short.3
It was not “law and order” when federal agents torched a Waco, Texas compound to produce “good publicity” in advance of budgetary hearings, leading to the deaths of more than 80 Americans, including over 20 children.4
It was not “law and order” when ATF agents helped traffic firearms to Mexican drug cartels, leading to the deaths of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ICE Special Agent Jaime Zapata.5
It was not “law and order” when ATF agents shot airport executive Bryan Malinowski in the head during a predawn raid of his home, all over the alleged sale of firearms without a government permission slip.6
It was not “law and order” when DOJ prosecuted Matthew Hoover for the victimless crime of selling metal cards ATF claimed were “machineguns,” items which ATF – even after cutting, grinding, bending, and fitting – never could get to function as claimed.7
It was not “law and order” when ATF abused mentally handicapped individuals in gun “stings” in Milwaukee.8
It was not “law and order” when ATF victimized septuagenarian Robert Arwady, twice bringing criminal charges against him and twice having juries vote unanimously to acquit.9
It was not “law and order” when ATF (negligently, if not criminally) allowed thousands of firearms and gun parts – including a heavy machinegun that was never recovered – to walk undetected out of its Martinsburg facility.10
It is not “law and order” when ATF repeatedly violates numerous court orders, continuing to enforce its vacated “pistol brace” rulemaking.11
It was not “law and order” when ATF deliberately defied President Trump’s order to fire DEI officials, quietly moving ATF’s DEI Chief to another department and changing her title.12
And it is not “law and order” when ATF agents secretly monitor the firearm purchases of countless Americans “not even suspected of a crime.” This program is ongoing.13
The above examples are only a few of ATF’s rampant malfeasance. There are dozens (if not hundreds) more like them.
In other words, any “law and order” must be directed at ATF itself, not at American gun owners. True “law and order” means fundamentally transforming ATF so that this rogue agency never repeats its crimes against American citizens. That requires a nomination similar to Kash Patel or Elon Musk, and not more of the same.
To that end, President Trump must nominate a constitutionalist to ATF who will:
- stand up to ATF’s entrenched, rogue officials;
- help downsize the federal government (including ATF);
- unravel Biden’s weaponization of law enforcement (especially ATF);14
- scale back ATF’s infringements of constitutional rights; and
- return freedom to the hands of the people to whom it belongs.
This country has a generational opportunity to course-correct. Appointing an ATF Director who shares the President’s small-government vision is critical to making sure this opportunity does not go to waste. In contrast, appointing a “seasoned” “law enforcement officer” risks squandering that historic opportunity, and allowing one of Americans’ most cherished (and vital) constitutional rights to be further eroded.
And, quite frankly, it would be refreshing to have an ATF Director who actually likes guns and embraces the Second Amendment community. A candidate who can field-strip a Glock in less than 10 seconds,15 or articulate the difference between a bump stock and an M1616, may be a good place to start.
1 Glenn Thrush, A.T.F. Braces for a Likely Rollback of Its Gun-Control Efforts, N.Y. Times (Dec. 14, 2024); Langley Outdoors Academy, BOMBSHELL LEAK: ATF Director Pushing Towards Bureaucrat LEO… MAJOR ALERT!!! We Must Act NOW!, YouTube (Feb. 5, 2025).
2 Gun Owners of America, Trump Makes a Promise to GOA Members, YouTube (Aug. 21, 2024).
3 Mike Hammond, Bill Barr Needs to Answer for His Role in Ruby Ridge, GOA (Jan. 26, 2019).
4 Operation Fast and Furious: The Forgotten History of the ATF’s Notorious Gunwalking Scandal, GOA (Dec. 16, 2020); Survivors of 1993 Waco Siege Describe What Happened in Fire that Ended the 51-day Standoff, ABC News (Jan. 3, 2018).
5 Operation Fast and Furious, supra; Reviewing ATF’s Failures in the Death of ICE Agent Jaime Zapata, House Comm. on Oversight (Mar. 9, 2017).
6 Louis Casiano, Clinton National Airport Executive Shot by ATF Agents During Raid at Arkansas Home Has Died, Brother Says, Fox News (Mar. 21, 2024).
7 John Crump, AutoKey Card: Matthew Hoover & Kristopher Justin Ervin Sentenced to 5 Years in Federal Prison, AmmoLand (Sept. 7, 2023).
8 Eyder Peralta, Report Details ATF’s Use of Mentally Disabled in Gun Stings, NPR (Dec. 8, 2013).
9 Rob Olson, Not Guilty on All Counts! How Gun Owners of America Trounced the ATF in Court, Gun Owners (Dec. 11, 2015).
10 Report of Investigation, DOJ OIG (Oct. 28, 2021).
11John Crump, Rogue ATF Bureaucrat Ignores Injunction on Pistol Brace Rule, AmmoLand (Jan. 11, 2025).
12 Wallace White, As Trump Cracks Down on DEI in Washington, Federal Agencies Caught Secretly Trying to Keep It Alive, MSN (Jan. 23, 2025).
13 John Crump, FOIA Shows the Extent of ATF Monitoring Americans Through FBI’s NICS System, AmmoLand (Dec. 10, 2024).
14 Breanne Deppisch, Bondi Sworn in as Attorney General with Mission to End ‘Weaponization’ of Justice Department, Fox News (Feb. 5, 2025).
15 Robert McGreevy, ATF ‘Firearms Expert’ Gets Roasted for Failing at Glock Disassembly … These Are the People Who Regulate Your Guns, Daily Caller (Mar. 5, 2024).
16 Trevor Schakohl, Biden’s ATF Director Admits He’s Not an Expert in Firearms, Tobacco, or Explosives, W.J. (Apr. 26, 2023).
About Erich Pratt
Erich Pratt is the Senior Vice President of Gun Owners of America, a gun rights organization representing more than two million gun owners.
We all know that extreme sweeping changes are necessary and l expect sooner than later, but Trump has a hell of a pile on his plate and the wind blows 2A.
Amen! Now, make SURE President Trump READS THIS.
Nope an agency with that kind of track record needs to be defunded and disbanded because they have never served the American people . The clowns at the ATF are no different that Hitler’s brown shirts or SS. They got to go period because they can’t be redirected and expected to do the right thing , their past record proves that .
someone needs to be picked to take apart agency, and review records recommending which get prosecuted and which get terminated
Not to mention the FBATFE’s continuous and repeated criminal use of a billion entry registry of firearms, with no fines, terminations or jail sentences for violating the law. The FBATFE still pays the murderers who criminally took the lives of numerous citizens and their pets, all over a suspicion that an unconstitutional $200 poll tax on arms was not paid! Did treasury agents storm AOC’s mansion for her $2,800 unpaid taxes? No, hHow about “Reverend” Al Shitforbrains Sharptoon? He owes MILLIONS in taxes, yet has never been raided, fined or redressed in any form!
Trump should’ve had someone picked and ready to go on Jan. 20th.
Without gun owners there’s a good chance neither Trump nor the GOP would be in power in DC and made major gains in the states.
Trump and the GOP made many, many, promises directly to gun owners.
It’s time for Trump and the GOP to deliver. Or they’ll take a beating in the mid terms.