By: Anthony Morelli
There is chaos in D.C.
The ATF has undergone a serious change with huge implications.
And gun owners will be in a state of shock over this news.
It has been announced that Kash Patel is no longer the head of the ATF and will be removed from the position effective immediately.
This will be a shocking piece of news to gun owners, who had been closely watching the direction the ATF was going in under Patel, and were confident that he would make things better.
But Patel apparently did not have time to be the head of both the FBI and ATF and needed to focus on one or the other.
Since the FBI is one of the most powerful agencies in the federal government, Patel elected to stay there and forgo his leadership at the ATF.
Daniel Driscoll, the Secretary of the Army, has taken over for Patel and will be the acting director of the agency going forward.
It remains to be seen whether Driscoll will take the agency in the same direction Patel did or if he has his own set of plans.
According to Fox News, “U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll was tapped to serve as the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), replacing FBI Director Kash Patel, who was appointed to the role in February, according to a U.S. defense official.
“Driscoll was notified of the appointment on Wednesday while traveling in Europe, the defense official told Fox News.”
On a purely human level, it seems like Patel was just overwhelmed with the responsibilities of leading both agencies and it became too much for him.
This is understandable, as he is a human just like everybody, and leading two agencies like he did is a fairly unprecedented situation.
The article continues, “Hailing from North Carolina, Driscoll, an Army veteran and venture capitalist, was chosen by Trump to serve as secretary of the Army. Driscoll, who is a senior advisor to Vice President JD Vance, fought with the 10th Mountain Division as a cavalry scout platoon leader in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
“Patel was sworn in to lead the ATF days after taking an oath to head the FBI following a contentious confirmation process in which Democrats raised alarms about his lack of management experience, among other claims.
“President Donald Trump hasn’t made clear what his plans are for the ATF, which has long been a target for congressional Republicans. The agency is charged with enforcing the nation’s laws with respect to firearms, explosives and arson.”
There are certainly a lot of gun owners who are itching for Trump to simply do away with the ATF like he has with other federal departments.
It is unclear whether that is part of his plans, but at the very least, it does not seem that the ATF will be taking an aggressive approach during his presidency.
Gun owners will certainly be hoping that Driscoll respects their constitutional freedoms as the new director.