Kash Patel is now leading two agencies under the Department of Justice.
Newly appointed FBI Director Kash Patel was sworn in as the acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on Monday, according to the agency.
“ATF welcomes Acting Director Kash Patel to ATF, who was sworn in and had his first visit to ATF Headquarters in Washington, D.C. today. We are enthusiastic to work together for a safer America,” the bureau
said in a Feb. 24 post on social media platform X.
Patel is now leading two agencies under the Department of Justice. He was sworn in as FBI director on Feb. 22 after being
confirmed by the Senate in a 51–49 vote.
He vowed to restore the FBI’s credibility and make it an agency that the American people can trust. During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Jan. 30, Patel
said that there would be “no retributive actions taken by any FBI” if he were to be confirmed as FBI director.
Gun rights advocacy groups have anticipated that his leadership will bring about reforms within the ATF. The National Rifle Association (NRA) called Patel’s appointment “a great first step” by the Trump administration toward reforming the “deeply troubled” agency.
“For far too long, ATF has focused on how it can manipulate federal statutes to restrict the rights of law-abiding Americans,” the NRA said in a
statement posted to social media. “We look forward to working with Acting Director Patel to protect and expand Second Amendment freedoms.”
The Firearm Industry Trade Association (NSSF) congratulated Patel for his appointment and urged him to move quickly with carrying out President Donald Trump’s executive order on protecting Second Amendment rights, which protect the right to keep and bear arms.
“Like the FBI, the ATF was weaponized by the previous administration. In the case of ATF, it was to carry out a radical gun control agenda,” Lawrence Keane, NSSF senior vice president, said in a
statement.
Keane said he believes that Patel’s appointment “will return the [ATF] to its proper role as a law enforcement agency laser focused on combatting violent crime and illegal firearms trafficking, and to act as a non-partisan regulator of the firearm industry.”
The
ATF mainly enforces the law concerning the illegal use and trafficking of firearms, explosives, arson, and acts of terrorism, besides licensing federal firearms dealers and tracing guns used in crimes.
Under the previous administration, the ATF
introduced several regulatory measures that have irked gun rights activists. Last year, four Republican-led states
filed a motion to prevent the ATF from enforcing a rule redefining who is “engaged in the business” of dealing in firearms.
Trump signed an
executive order on Jan. 20 to “halt existing policies designed to curtail the clear right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.”
The order directs U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to conduct a review and propose a plan of action to eliminate regulations that infringe on Second Amendment rights.
On Feb. 21, Bondi removed ATF Chief Legal Counsel Pamela Hicks from her post, just days after Trump ordered the termination of all U.S. attorneys appointed during the previous administration.
Hicks confirmed her dismissal in a social media post, saying that she had received official notice from the attorney general of the United States informing her of her removal.
Bondi had pledged during her confirmation hearing to put an end to what she called “the partisan weaponization” of the DOJ.
“Under my watch, the partisan weaponization of the Department of Justice will end. America must have one tier of justice for all,” Bondi said in her opening
statement to the Judiciary Committee on Jan. 15.
Naveen Athrappully contributed to this report.
