The embattled Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives was rocked again this week when an insider favored for the bureau’s top job was abruptly demoted after being passed over a second time by President Joe Biden.
Reports said that acting Director Marvin Richardson, the highest-ranking black man at the agency who had 30 years of experience with ATF, announced Monday that he was being shoved aside by the White House. Biden last week chose a white lawyer to head the sprawling law enforcement agency after his first pick, another white male, bowed out under pressure.
“The news that he was being replaced came as a shock to most of us within the agency,” one ATF official told the Reload, a Second Amendment news site.
“Refusing to consider an accomplished black agent like Richardson for the permanent position may lead to further controversy around Biden’s nomination of Steve Dettelbach,” reported Reload Editor Stephen Gutowski, who is known for his contacts at the agency, which formulates and enforces gun laws.
Richardson had a base of support in the agency for the top job because of his law enforcement experience, years as a manager of the 5,000-employee agency, and balanced relationships with the gun industry.
What’s more, some thought he was an easy pick because he is black, and Biden has put a premium on minorities throughout his government — though apparently not at ATF.
Two other top leaders at ATF are also planning to leave the agency soon.
The turmoil comes as pro-Second Amendment groups are gearing up to oppose Dettelbach, a federal prosecutor who supported the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
He was announced the same day Biden said he would fight to ban some at-home gunmaking and so-called “ghost gun” kits.
Biden’s ATF has its eyes on several other efforts to squeeze the firearms industry, including taxes and registration requirements for one of the most popular firearms in America, AR-style pistols.
In a post this week, chief National Rifle Association lobbyist Jason Ouimet said that any ATF nominee would serve the president’s goal of banning weapons. Biden’s initial failed pick, David Chipman, even worked for gun control advocates backed by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Ouimet said: “Though Biden failed to install an avowed gun-control activist to oversee the U.S. arms industry and further clamp down on law-abiding gun owners, he is still trying to stretch the laws themselves to compel even neutral and professional ATF officials to enforce wide-ranging restrictions on guns.”
