This week, we’re looking at the first-of-its-kind move to make the FBI Director the Acting Director of the ATF.
To do that, we’ve got Reason Magazine’s J.D. Tuccille back on the show. He recently wrote about what Kash Patel’s appointment might mean for the gun agency.
He argued it could send a signal the administration plans to merge the two law enforcement arms, if not officially, at least effectively. Tuccille said the move has the potential to reign in some of the worst excesses of the ATF by eliminating its singular focus on gun law enforcement. But, he noted, it could also backfire on gun owners given the FBI’s reputation for aggressive enforcement, even over-aggressive at times.
Then there’s Kash Patel himself. He has received strong backing from gun-rights groups, who hope he’ll wipe out the gun restrictions and zero-tolerance approach, as well as the officials who implemented them. However, Tuccille said his history of comments promising retribution against his and President Trump’s opponents in government and media raise concerns about how he might wield his expansive new power over federal law enforcement.
You can listen to the show on your favorite podcasting app or by clicking here. Video of the episode is available on our YouTube channel. An auto-generated transcript is here. Reload Members get access on Sunday, as always. Everyone else can listen on Monday.
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Plus, Contributing writer Jake Fogleman and I cover the Supreme Court’s latest remand of a case concerning whether convicted felons have any Second Amendment rights. We also discuss major gun manufacturer Daniel Defense’s decision to wade into the ongoing efforts to reform the NRA through board elections. We then briefly touch on the Trump administration’s decision to tap Kash Patel as acting ATF director before wrapping up with a round-up of stories from outside The Reload.
