Strong ATF Director Pick Gives Trump Chance At Being Hero To Gun Owners

President Trump is only four weeks into his second term, and he’s already off to a strong start in following through with his commitment to protect Americans’ Second Amendment rights. With his recent executive orders directing the Department of Justice to put together a comprehensive pro-Second Amendment plan of action and ending the weaponization of the federal government, Trump has made great strides in putting an end to federal law enforcement’s politicization against law-abiding Americans.

He can capitalize on this momentum by bringing some much-needed change to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), an agency that has been weaponized against gun owners for far too long. By appointing a strong ATF director – one who combines the technical know-how of firearms regulation with a public commitment to get the ATF realigned to protect the Second Amendment – Trump can cement his legacy as a hero for America’s 107 million gun owners.

Under the Biden administration, the ATF was actively hostile to the interests of both firearms retailers and gunowners. Instead of implementing policies that defend the individual liberties of American citizens, bureaucrats in the ATF deployed arbitrary rule changes, red tape and deliberately vague enforcement standards to handicap the firearms industry and limit the rights of the people. Former President Joe Biden, like former President Barack Obama before him, used the ATF’s broad mandate to impose a gun control regime that circumvented Congress.

Among law enforcement agencies, the ATF is unique. It is responsible for both investigating violations of federal firearms law and for regulating the firearms industry as a whole. This dual regulatory and enforcement role means the ideal choice for ATF director would be someone who respects the individual liberties enumerated in the Constitution and has a commitment to go after actual criminals. In recent decades, ATF directors have either been drawn exclusively from the ranks of law enforcement – usually from the ATF itself – or previously served as public prosecutors. The results of limiting the selection pool have been mixed. There is no doubt law enforcement leadership plays an important role in protecting our rights. But our opponents’ weapon of choice to impede our rights is legal and regulatory bureaucracy. So the agency needs a Second Amendment warrior, an ATF outsider who is experienced in fighting the ATF overreach, with a mastery of the complex regulatory and legal system to advocate for the Second Amendment rights of Americans.

Trump’s pick must be willing to do the hard work of reining in the ATF’s bureaucracy, which has run far afield of its law enforcement mandate. ATF has repeatedly subverted the democratic process, pushing the limits of their congressionally authorized authority via aggressive rulemaking. This has led to some calling for the agency to be abolished. We understand this sentiment, and the frustration with gross federal overreach from which it is born is not without merit. Unfortunately, the statutes suffocating our freedoms wouldn’t disappear with the ATF. If you cut the head off one three letter agency, another will grow back in its place.

Putting a bold, smart reformer at the helm is the best strategy to restore common sense to our nation’s approach to firearms. Recent success stories have proven that a productive relationship between the ATF and gun owners is indeed possible.

For example, the ATF currently regulates the buying and selling of firearm suppressors, devices that dampen the noise of a firearm. These essential hearing protection devices allow gun owners and hunters to exercise their Second Amendment rights without having to sacrifice one of their five senses. However, for decades the vast majority of gun owners were unable to obtain suppressors. The NFA transfer process was tedious, expensive and almost always delayed.

In 2024, the American Suppressor Association successfully worked with the ATF to help streamline the transfer process. The result? Wait times collapsed. Gun owners can now obtain a suppressor in a matter of hours or days, instead of months or years. This sort of productive dialogue between regulators and industry advocates should be the norm, not the exception. Trump’s ATF director should understand this and make working with – instead of against – law-abiding gun owners a top priority for the agency.

Trump has a golden opportunity to fix the ATF and focus on protecting our constitutional rights while taking the real criminals off the street. He simply needs to pick the right man or woman for the job.

 Michael Williams is the general counsel of the American Suppressor Association and a former senior policy advisor for Second Amendment issues in the Trump administration. Jamin McCallum is the CEO of JJE Capital (Owner of Palmetto State Armory, Harrington and Richardson, and various other firearms-related companies).