Kash Patel, fresh off his swearing-in as the nation’s ninth FBI director—a ceremony conducted by Attorney General Pam Bondi—apparently has enough bandwidth to take on an additional big job as well. Reports on Saturday indicate that he will be nominated to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
I find it hard enough to keep up with one job, but he’s going to take on two extremely important positions? Impressive.
🚨 #BREAKING: President Trump is expected to appoint Kash Patel to Acting Director of the ATF in addition to his role as FBI Director, per ABC
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 22, 2025
The ATF’s days are NUMBERED 🔥 pic.twitter.com/DVlfb6ltY4
Bondi had fired the ATF’s general counsel earlier in the week:
FBI Director Kash Patel will be tapped to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), two sources confirmed to Fox News Digital on Saturday.
The news comes a day after Patel was sworn in as the ninth FBI director in a narrow Senate vote.
Former FBI Director Christopher Wray resigned at the end of former President Biden’s term and Attorney General Pam Bondi fired the ATF general counsel, Pamela Hicks, on Thursday.
“Earlier today, I was served official notice from the Attorney General of the United States that I was being removed from my position as the Chief Counsel of ATF and my employment with the Department of Justice terminated,” Hicks posted on her LinkedIn page Thursday, confirming her termination.
The AG explained her decision to terminate Hicks in no uncertain terms:
“These people were targeting gun owners,” Bondi told Fox News on Thursday of the ATF. “Not gonna happen under this administration.”
Both the FBI and ATF are part of the DOJ.
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Gun owners are happy to see that Patel will be in charge:
"The counter mandate that we have is the force of the Founding Fathers in the 2nd Amendment."
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) February 23, 2025
"That is more powerful than any regulation these entities can come up with. But if you let ATF continue to chip away, they will completely take it away FOREVER."
- @Kash_Patel 🔫🇺🇸 https://t.co/TijQnt0qqQ pic.twitter.com/eOENpAmrR6
The ATF has come under withering criticism from pro-Second Amendment advocates who say the agency is more concerned with gun control than gun safety.
The ATF, a law enforcement agency housed in the Department of Justice, is responsible for enforcing federal laws regarding the illegal use, sale and trafficking of firearms and explosives, as well as the illegal diversion of alcohol and tobacco products.
It has been a frequent target of Republican lawmakers who perceive the agency as infringing on the Second Amendment, particularly as former President Joe Biden empowered it to regulate the sale of "ghost guns" and close a loophole that eased the process of buying a firearm.
Trump earlier this month signed an executive order to “halt existing policies designed to curtail the clear right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.” A White House release on that order accused the ATF of unfairly targeting gun owners.
🚨BREAKING🚨
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) February 23, 2025
President Trump has asked Kash Patel to be acting director of the ATF. Kash is a true constitutionalist and is fiercely pro-gun. 🇺🇸 🔫 pic.twitter.com/HzL828GZji
Kash is going to be a very busy man in the upcoming months. In the meantime, responsible gun owners will likely be very happy with this new development.
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