Posted on 02/23/2025 10:17:08 AM PST by Navy Patriot
New FBI Director Kash Patel is expected to be named the acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a Justice Department official said Saturday.
Patel could be sworn in next week, the official said, putting Patel in charge of two of the Justice Department's largest agencies in an unusual arrangement that raises questions about the future of the bureau that has long drawn the ire of conservatives.
The Justice Department official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the move before it's announced publicly. White House officials didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday evening.
Patel was sworn in Friday as FBI director after winning Senate approval despite Democrats' concerns about the steadfast Trump ally's plans to radically overhaul the FBI.
The news comes days after Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the ATF's top lawyer. Bondi said in a Fox News interview Friday that she fired chief counsel Pamela Hicks because the agency was “targeting gun owners.”
Conservatives have long railed against ATF over its role in regulating firearms and have suggested shuttering the agency.
In an executive order earlier this month, President Donald Trump directed the attorney general to review all actions taken by the Biden administration around firearms “to assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens.”
Gun Owners of America, a gun rights group, called his confirmation as FBI director “a major victory for gun owners and constitutional rights advocates nationwide."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
Hopefully ex- ATF employees can see full retirement, unarmed, in Middle East Islamic countries, ... or Gitmo, their choice.
I would like to see the ATF become part of the FBI’s civil rights division.
Their mission: Defend the 2nd amendment. Take administrative or criminal actions against state and local governments who violate Americans 2nd amendment rights.
Stated simply, the 2nd amendment is a civil right and the US government is duty bound to protect, defend and enforce it.
Having a FFL and trying to stay current on their short barreled this and their folding stock that bulletins every other week is a pain in the butt. Maybe they can make up their minds now.
Oh yeah, take the freaking tax stamp requirement off of sound suppressors too while you’re standing there with your face hanging out.
ATF is only part of Treasury because of NFA taxes. There’s no reason for it to be there or to enjoy the expanded powers of tax collectors vis a vis regular police.
Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms should be a convenience store and not an agency.
In January of 2003, ATF’s functions and responsibilities were transferred to the Department of Justice.
The Homeland Security Act split the missions and functions of ATF into two agencies: The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) transferred to the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) remained with the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
https://www.atf.gov/our-history/timeline/transfer-atf-us-department-justice
Close the agency, treat the employees as spies from a hostile foreign country would be treated.
The ATF agents DID provide working, fully automatic rifles, to Mexican Cartels, that were used to Murder Border Patrol agents.
When I was a kid, we did get all of that in one store! Longs Drugs.
I’m concerned that this will “stretch Kash too thin” in having to reform the FBI and the ATF. Isn’t there another qualified person to take the ATF and dismantle it?
Hugs to Pam Bondi
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Makes sense to me....WINNING !
Good point.
We can only hope that is because the ATF will cease to exist soon followed by the NFA and CGA.
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