Washington, D.C. – A major shakeup at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is underway.
Kash Patel, who had been serving double duty as Acting Director of the ATF and Director of the FBI, has now been relieved from his ATF role to focus full-time on leading the nation’s top law enforcement agency.
In his place, President Trump has tapped Daniel Driscoll to serve as the new Acting Director of the ATF.
Driscoll, who most recently served as Secretary of the Army, brings with him a military background and a no-nonsense reputation.
Supporters of the Second Amendment are hopeful—but cautious. While any leadership change away from the Biden-era anti-gun cronies is a step in the right direction, gun owners across the country are not letting their guard down.
Before stepping aside, Patel left gun owners with one final parting gift: he fired ATF Deputy Director Marvin Richardson.
Richardson—once hailed as the heir apparent to the ATF throne—was the right-hand man to disgraced former ATF Director Steve Dettelbach.
Under their “leadership,” the ATF became a blunt instrument for the Biden administration’s anti-gun crusade. They presided over rule-by-decree enforcement targeting law-abiding citizens, industry crackdowns, and unconstitutional assaults on everything from pistol braces to unfinished frames and receivers.
Richardson was notorious for being a career bureaucrat who, despite occasional attempts to appear neutral, consistently empowered anti-gun initiatives.
His removal marks a much-needed purge of old-guard leadership at the ATF—one that many in the gun rights community see as long overdue.
Yet while these staffing changes are encouraging, Second Amendment advocates know the real fight isn’t over.
“The removal of anti-gun bureaucrats is a win, but we need more than reform. We need abolition” said Chris McNutt, President of Texas Gun Rights.
With midterms looming and the balance of power in Congress at stake, the clock is ticking. Reform is not enough. The only permanent solution is full repeal and dismantlement—before gun control bureaucrats get another chance to dig in.
Because gun rights aren’t granted by government—and they shouldn’t be regulated by it either.
