The ATF is trying to pull a fast one on gun owners by protecting a woke diversity officer. Right when he was inaugurated, President Donald Trump hit the ground running by issuing an executive order to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal government.
However, the ATF — America’s most anti-gun government agency — didn’t get the memo and has been exposed for changing the job title of former diversity officer Lisa T. Boykin. Several elected officials have picked up on the ATF’s latest scheme to run cover for its parasitic DEI employees.
“The ATF defied @realDonaldTrump’s order to place DEI workers on leave, instead giving their DEI officer a new title. They attack citizens’ rights, ignore leadership, and act as though they’re above the law. Enough is enough. Time to abolish the ATF!” Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) posted on X. Burlison has made a splash in the pro-gun scene for his recent introduction of a bill to abolish the ATF.
The ATF, lies under the purview of the Department of Justice. Boykin’s title was recently changed on the ATF’s website to “senior executive” with the ATF. According to an archived link of the ATF’s website that Fox News obtained Boykin was listed as the chief diversity officer as recently as Jan. 21, 2025 —Trump’s second day as president— and currently lists her role as the ATF’s agency’s “senior executive.”
Trump made it a point on the campaign trail to oppose DEI programs and government agencies across all levels of government. True to his word, Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 20 ending ”illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”
The following day, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) instructed agency and department leaders to start closing DEI offices and to put DEI employees on paid leave.
“Send a notification to all employees of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs,” the OPM order stated.
According to Boykin’s biography that dates back to 2023, she started working at the ATF’s Human Resources Operations Division in 2016 and “as a collateral duty, in 2021, Mrs. Boykin also began serving as the Bureau’s Chief Diversity Officer,” per a New York Post report.
“With the Bureau’s continued focus on enhancing DEIA, Mrs. Boykin currently assumes the work of the CDO in a fulltime capacity, leading and implementing departmental programs and mandates, while bringing renewed vision and effective strategies to maintain an informed DEIA culture for the Bureau,” Boykin’s biography added.
DEI and gun-grabbing are an awful mix. But it makes sense why these ideas cross-pollinate: they’re centered on collectivist principles that transgress on individual liberties.
Trump is right to roll back divisive DEI policies. But he should not stop there. Trump received a landslide electoral vote margin in addition to winning the popular vote and having Republicans control both chambers of Congress, thereby giving him a mandate to take action on pro-gun reforms. There is no excuse for Republicans to not deliver on the promises they’ve made to their grassroots conservative constituencies.
One way Trump could send a strong message to Gun Control Inc is by severely undermining the ATF is by spearheading a move to fire Boykin and other parasitic actors within this government agency that poses a perennial threat to the right to bear arms.
We have a unique opportunity to downsize the ATF and even abolish it within our lifetime. Let’s not squander it.
