As the saying goes, you don’t have to be a weatherman to see which way the wind is blowing. ATF director Steve Dettelbach is at least self-aware enough to realize that his employment opportunities in the federal government after January 20 are severely limited. Many, both in and outside of the .gov, seem to be in denial about that, but the fact remains that everyone who works in the executive branch serves at the pleasure of the president. That means they can — and a large percentage of them certainly should — be fired at any time by the guy in the White House.
Apparently not wanting to wait around for the termination letter that’s surely headed his way, Director Dettelbach has apparently announced that he will be leaving his job leading the Biden-weaponized three-letter agency as of January 18. I say apparently because the only report of this so far, which includes a copy of his purported resignation letter, has come from Mr. Gunsngear.
The ATF director has retired rather than the alternative of being fired when President Trump takes office.
How many lies can you spot in the resignation letter below ⬇️🤔 pic.twitter.com/znXCX9DVUc
— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) December 31, 2024
We don’t doubt Mr. G&G’s report and expect it to be reported more widely by the legacy media today. That said, Dettelbach, who has actively defended his record as the end became evident, felt it necessary to include this paragraph, addressing President Biden . . .
Under your leadership, and that of the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General, we met head on the challenge of a historic spike in violent crime coming out of the pandemic. As I leave the ATF, the country has experienced two years of historic decreases in the violent crime rates, including drops in firearms related crime. That progress did not occur by accident. The heroic, talented, and hard-working people at ATF, along with our many partners, fought hard and risked everything to gain that ground. And Americans are better off for it.
That’s a creative way of framing the fact that under Biden’s directive, Dettelbach has overseen the systematic weaponization of the regulatory agency he managed. He instituted zero-tolerance enforcement policies that have resulted in the shutdown of hundreds of federal firearms licensees over the last three years. And his decision to parrot clearly inaccurate crime statistics that certainly appear to have been manipulated to help the Biden (and then Harris) campaign was certainly an interesting, if not forthright choice.
But let’s count our blessings. ATF will soon have new leadership under an administration that, if nothing else, will be far less anti-gun than the one that’s about to fade into history. A few different names have been circulated in connection with the job, but the Trump transition team hasn’t named a nominee yet, so we’ll keep our powder dry. In the mean time, assuming that the report of Dettelbach’s exit is accurate, it seems that 2024 is ending on a very good note.
Mr. G&G wasn’t the first to report it. Others reported it before he did.
Plus, Dettelbach did say publicly previously he would resign before Trump took office.
He’s not the only one of the Biden tyranny to be resigning, there are a bunch of them that are resigning. Heck, even Joe has basically resigned mostly by essentially ‘quiet quited’
Who was first?
Yes. What was second.
Last I looked, they were a five letter agency, not three.
Ok, be Mr. Pickey.
Its common in the gun community ‘slang’ to just refer to them as ATF.
And heck, even Dettelbach refers to it as ATF in the media and when testifying.
There isn’t any ‘misleading’ article title or information to be corrected here by using ATF. Its a common short hand slang usage.
I like to call them the “F Troop.” They hate that nickname.
They are a five-letter agency, and a lengthy collection of extremely pejorative four-letter words.
And also…’tyranny’ is 7 letters, ‘thugs’ is 5 letters, and ‘criminals’ is 9 letters…but we just represent those with ATF.
Ok, that’s a better answer to the OP. But, I prefer AFT, referencing the south end of a north-facing donkey.
new leadership at an agency that should be dismantled permanently is not really my idea of progress
……and the unnecessary deaths of several US citizens.
Dear Mr. Dettelbach. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass.
Mr. Dettelbach doesn’t have an ass!
I’ve had my FFL for 20+ years. It was only this past summer (2024) that a full blown on-site inspection was conducted by Industry Compliance Investigators.
In my opinion –
The ppl are great; Management leaves a bit to be desired.
There are no good ATF agents. Any “good” agent just frees up the others to commit more acts of terror.
The ATF has certainly improved the speed and efficiency with which they process the detailed paperwork controlling civilian ownership of NFA Title II weapons like machine guns and short barreled shotguns. I suppose he can claim some grudging credit for that, although I suspect the overhaul was in the works for some time before he came into office.
Other than that, I hate his guts and despise his agency and wish to see it destroyed.
NICS check is much faster now too. That’s the FBI, right? Maybe the government finally figured out how to use decade plus old tech. Dan Bongino said they had a saying when he worked for the Secret Service: “Yesterday’s technology, tomorrow.”
Here in NV it NICS was OK, until Covid, and then you could spend half a day listening to a busy-signal, and then a hold recording – my last NICS took 3-3/4 hrs from initial dialing to clearance, and that was all “on hold” time.
They promise us a modern system to be introduced in Jan/Feb (6 mos after the initial notice), but no details on what it entails.
The ATF had nothing to do with that ‘speed’. It happened because of an upgrade in software and computer systems that had been scheduled in 2018 … but the software got delayed because the company making the software started having issues with finances and it got pushed to 2019 then COVID happened and delayed the company making the software … then finally it happened. It would have happened with or without Dettelbach, it was just a matter of timing that it happened while Dettelbach was there.
Always remember that regulatory agencies measure their success by how many people they can put in jail or at least out of business. America’s Thug Force (ATF) is the prime example. ATFs very existence is in contravention to the Second Amendment.
More lies. Good riddance, don’t let the door hit you in the ass. I hear McDonald’s is hiring. Probably the only thing you’re qualified for.