President-elect Donald Trump has signaled a shakeup at the ATF, pledging to replace current Director Steve Dettelbach on his first day in office. While Dettelbach defends his record of reducing violent crime and modernizing gun regulations, speculation about his replacement has ignited debate within Second Amendment circles.
Blake Masters Emerges as a Controversial Candidate
According to the Arizona Daily Independent News Network, Blake Masters, a failed congressional and senatorial candidate in Arizona, is being considered for the role of ATF director. Masters, a Trump loyalist, has met with the president-elect’s transition team and expressed interest in the position. However, his potential appointment has drawn mixed reactions.
Critics within Arizona’s Republican circles highlight Masters’ controversial political campaigns and defeats, particularly his 2022 Senate race loss to Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly, a staunch gun control advocate.
“Masters is not the kind of leader gun owners can trust with power over firearms regulation,” one Arizona campaign consultant told the Arizona Daily Independent.
Some Second Amendment supporters suggest alternatives, such as Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who gained praise for resisting COVID-19 restrictions and advocating for constitutional rights.
“If Trump wants an Arizonan to lead the ATF, someone like Sheriff Lamb would be a far better choice,” the consultant added.
Dettelbach Defends ATF Record Under Biden
Current ATF Director Steve Dettelbach, appointed by President Joe Biden in 2022, defended his tenure in an interview with NPR. He highlighted a reported 10% decline in violent crime during the first half of 2024 compared to the previous year.
“Since I started at ATF, violent crime numbers have dropped for two consecutive years,” Dettelbach said. “That doesn’t happen by accident.” He attributed the decline to the ATF’s efforts in identifying violent offenders and providing law enforcement with over 200,000 real-time leads in gun crime investigations last year.
However, Dettelbach has faced sharp criticism from gun rights groups and Capitol Hill Republicans, particularly for his role in advancing Biden administration gun control policies. These include regulations on so-called ghost guns, devices converting pistols into short-barreled rifles and unlicensed gun sellers and gestapo-like tactics from ATF agents including the killing of Little Rock Airport Executive Director Bryan Malinowski during the execution of a questionable no-knock warrant.
Congress recently cut $50 million from the ATF’s budget, and the agency may face further reductions under Republican control. Dettelbach warned such cuts would harm ATF’s ability to support state and local law enforcement and slow firearm trace results critical to investigations.
Trump’s Plans for the ATF
During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly criticized Dettelbach, calling him a “radical gun-grabber.” He vowed to reverse many of the ATF’s recent regulatory actions, though it remains unclear how far those efforts will go. It also remains clear who he will ultimately name to head the agency, which will go a long way toward possibly restoring some credibility to the agency or could further erode the public’s confidence that the agency servers any purpose beyond suppressing American’s rights.
Unreported crime is not a statistic in Dettelbach’s criteria for bragging.
In Oct. ’22, none other than Bloomberg Law had an article about how the FBI wasn’t including stats from NYC, LA, and a number of other large cities. Since then, any number of left leaning “sources” have tried to sweep that fact under the rug, with their target audience of course buying it lock, stock, and barrell. I’m sure our own esteemed TruthMiner will be along shortly.
“Since I started at ATF, violent crime numbers have dropped for two consecutive years,”
false. in fact after the FBI did the very quiet ‘stealth’ update to crime rates, crime rates actually increased, including violent crime rates, under the Biden admin.
Dettelbach, not sure why you are bothering to defend your ‘record’ because you are gone even if Trump doesn’t appoint anyone. rate wise, as a single entity, the ATF has comitted more ‘violent crime activity’ in two years than any single U.S. person has in the same two year period, the only difference is ya’ll got the excuse of ‘qualified immunity’. all the ATF has been is a gang of ‘criminal thugs’ with you leading them
Yep. Let’s never forget what they did to Bryan Malinowski in Arkansas. Instead of going after thugs in the ghettos of Chicago he sent a small army of heavily armed ATF agents to his home pre dawn, cut access to his power and cameras, broke his front door down, and shot him to death rather than simply arresting him at work or out and about being that Bryan Malinowski had no record of being a dangerous person. Why did they do this? They suspected him of illegally selling some firearms at gun shows and such.
“They suspected him of illegally selling some firearms at gun shows and such.”
which he did not do.
what the ATF really did was self-interpret the vague ‘in the business’ thing the democrats created to claim, without actual proof, he was selling fire arms without a license because he was ‘in the business’ thus illegally selling firearms. they had a fishing expedition search warrant, no arrest warrant or charges, because they didn’t have actual proof or evidence because non existed. they needed the search warrant to try to find something, anything, and still to date they have found nothing from their warrant.
they created a condition that looked exactly like a home invasion, and not a law enforcement raid, crashed through the door after covering the ring door bell camera, didn’t ID when they did that. Bryan tried to defend his home, the ATF shot and killed him. the ATF created the condition where that valid home defense was needed. if you or I created the condition under which we defended we would be in prison for murder. The ATF murdered this man, basically ’cause they said he comitted a crime due to their own self interpretation without any evidence at all.
all the ATF needed to do was knock on the door, or simply serve the fishing expedition search warrant when he was getting in his car outside going to work.
ATF’s patented “shock-and-awe” tactics.
With the media cameras rolling.
.40, what is qualified immunity? Seriously, I never heard of it before I began visiting this site a few years ago and I spent 25 years in LE. The thing they drilled into us at the academy. They not only stressed that we could loose our certification for screwing up and costing the agency an ass load, but that I could have my wages garnished, loose my retirement as well as much of what little wealth I have. No one ever mentioned qualified immunity. Maybe it’s something new, or they neglected to mention it. I say all of this because I saw several lawsuits at my old agency. They were a nightmare for the deputies involved.
drilled into us at the academy was vicarious liability. Sorry someone was speaking to me as I posted the first comment.
An officer has a qualified immunity against civil rights claims and criminal actions if the officer acted within department guidelines and court decisions defining the scope of police authority and the rights of citizens. Punch in qualified immunity into your search bar and you will find articles and/or published decisions discussing the doctrine. The most recent SCOTUS decision involved three Muslim men who were placed on the no fly list despite of a complete lack of evidence of any involvement in terrorist activities.
you spent 25 years in law enforcement and never knew what qualified immunity is?
Mark explains it below.
…. Mark explains it above …
on my phone it looked like below at the time. It does that sometimes. The formatting of the site all looks in line on the browser I use on the phone so it hard to tell sometimes what is above or below.
He sounds like a great choice to me. From an article of what he said in 2021. I trust President Trump on his choices and I voted for him again.
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2021/11/video-senate-candidate-releases-viral-second-amendment-ad-1-4-million-views-and-counting/
“This is a short-barreled rifle,” Masters said in the ad while holding a firearm. “It wasn’t designed for hunting. This is designed to kill people. But if you’re not a bad guy, I support your right to own one.”
“The Second Amendment is not about duck hunting. It’s about protecting your family and your country,” Masters continued. “What’s the first thing the Taliban did when Joe Biden handed them Afghanistan? They took away people’s guns. That’s how it works.”
“I’m Blake Masters. I’m running for the US Senate in Arizona. And I approve this message because without gun rights, before long, you have no rights,” he concluded.
I’m sure he’d be fine. Some of these nominations are payback for political support. That’s just how it works. He can be a placeholder until we DOGE the AFT, BATFE, or whatever you want to call it.
“If you’re not a bad guy”. He’s a gun controller. There is nothing in the constitution about the Government deciding who is a bad guy and only those the Government approves having the right to keep and bear arms.
The 2nd Amendment protects an absolute right to keep and bear arms; the government has no authority to make any rules about who has that right and who does not.
He wants it too much. Seems like another Kari Lake wanna be loser who needs a job.
Brandon Herrera first. Maybe Peter Forcelli. He knows the agency, but was a Fast & Furious whistle blower,
Definitely Brandon Herrera.
Brandon Herrera for sure
ted nugent.
Why does an org we should abolish need a leader unless it’s to tear it down from the inside? Let someone else handle the AT, cancel the F part.
Don’t trust this guy. Always stay involved. Send messages to the Trump team and the NRA.
Demand a known pro 2A person be put in charge of the ATF.
Remind Trump his biggest mistakes were putting in the wrong people, in his last time in office.
🎯🎯
Correct, he picked a lot of misfits. Hopefully, he’s put the time in while campaigning to get it right this time. I think his sons have better access this time and have been providing solid advice, and NOT the Republican National Committee of RHINO’S.
Herrera for ATF Director
I don’t know this guy from Adam. All we get from the article is the purely conclusory statement that “Masters is not the kind of leader gun owners can trust with power over firearms regulation,” one Arizona campaign consultant told the Arizona Daily Independent.
The best choice for the top job in the ATF is nobody. The best choice for the second-from-the-top job in the ATF is also nobody. The same goes for the third-highest job, and the fourth, all the way down to the entry-level janitors and mail clerks. Replace them all with nobody.
DaveL,
Replace “nobody” with “none of the above” and we might just have a wildly successful campaign–ala Brewster’s Millions !!!
The Most Dangerous (note: and unhinged) Gun Control Argument You Will Ever Read.
h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kxLwzSB-2Q
Not a good link, do you have one that works? Thanks
Works just fine.
link works fine.
have to post them with a space between the ‘h’ and ‘ttps’ or it goes to moderation from which it may never return.
Sheriff Lamb would be great, so would Brandon Herrera, who I’d personally prefer. But the best one for the job is NO ONE, because the ATF shouldn’t even exist!!!!!!!!!
Masters gives me the creeps. Mark Lamb is an Arizona treasure. If he wants the job I say you go boy! Going to the range with my new Christmas present. Happy New Year all you gunnuts!
How about cutting the ATF’s budget to ZERO?!? . . . including Dettelbach’s pay?
Is it even possible for Dettelbach to defend his job. He’s been nothing but a Biden puppet. But a very devoted puppet.
““Since I started at ATF, violent crime numbers have dropped for two consecutive years,” Dettelbach said. “That doesn’t happen by accident.” He attributed the decline to the ATF’s efforts in identifying violent offenders and providing law enforcement with over 200,000 real-time leads in gun crime investigations last year.” Sure with cooked numbers courtesy of the DOJ’s FBI.
IF we keep the ATF at all, the first step should be for the ATF to step out of the direct enforcement business entirely — they can remain a regulatory agency (under appropriate supervision) and should continue to provide investigative support to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, but actual enforcement itself needs to be handled by professional law enforcement agencies. If the ATF believes someone has committed a federal crime, they can provide that information to the FBI, then the FBI can review the information to decide if they have probable cause to obtain a search warrant and to make an arrest. Likewise if the ATF thinks someone has committed a state crime, they can pass that information to the state police who can determine if action is appropriate. This won’t eliminate all the abuse, but it puts the responsibility where it belongs. (And, of course, it would allow greater Government Efficiency by eliminating the need for large numbers of ATF “Special Agents” being used to make these SWAT-style raids).
Another idiot Four Boxes Diner fan-boy. What would the ATF have to investigate regarding guns if the Constitutional protection of the right of the people to keep and bear arms was followed? They’d have nothing to do at all. Only a secret-gun-controller would advocate for the ATF to do anything at all with guns – and that’s what Mark Smith is: an in-secret gun controller whose real job is to convince all of us to accept “reasonable” gun control.
ATF is going to have to lie low and wait for another Democrat presidency.
This is why it must be abolished.
GOOD NEWS: ATF Director Resigns!!!
h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dLn8g8zcvs
This is how you avoid having to put “Fired” on your resume.
Was there a “golden parachute” clause in the contract?
Ted Nugent for ATF Director!
You mean the dude who has a song referencing sharing a 13yo with a cop? Pass.
I have volunteered a few times in my life. Volunteered to enlist, volunteered for Jump School, a few other things, so I volunteer to lead the ATF.
My opinions are that the Founders made it explicitly clear what the 2A was for. The EO stopping the return of M1s is an tremendous error, homemade firearms are a right of free people and that the government has restrictions. NFA restrictions violate the restrictions of government in the BoR and that the ATF should be used to help firearm owners not abuse them.
Do I have your support?
I received an Email from the American Firearms Association last night stating that Dettelbach has tendered his resignation effective January 18, 2025. I have forwarded that Email to TTAG so they can post it.
dettelbach has been horrible. He should be locked up.
ATF is a violent and murderous terrorist entity that should be banned from each state and disbanded. Dittle’sSELF should be in federal prison. They’re getting bogus warrants again and murdering people. Time to reinforce your doors and prepare for a firefight when they enter. .308 semi auto “pistol” recommended. If you sell regularly at gun shows and don’t have an FFL, they’re targeting you. If strangers have been coming to YOU out of the blue to buy guns, they’re targeting you. We need to find a way to “fed proof” buyers. Imagine being a sht stain little traitor like that to set people up over a harmless non crime.
BTW, they like to throw grenades in your kids’ bedrooms while they sleep, so bars on the windows is recommended. Somebody must make a way to put bars on windows that aren’t so visible and would block a grenade from a terrorist. Decoy bars would be better than nothing. A mobile shield that you can fire from behind while defending your home from a home invasion is a must.
brandon herrera for atf director!
By the way, there are two separate “Dale”‘s posting on this site today.
Noted.