Trump appointee's disappearing act has key department at a standstill
Donald #Trump's decision to hand newly appointed #FBI Director Kash Patel the reins as the interim head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (#ATF), has led to the department being adrift with #Patel reportedly ignoring his duties.
The #DOJ is considering merging the lead agencies enforcing #drug & #gun laws in a major shakeup as it moves to follow #Trump's instructions to sharply *streamline* the govt.
In addition to merging the Drug Enforcement Agency #DEA & Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives #ATF, DOJ leaders are considering eliminating field offices that handle #antitrust & #environmental cases, according to a March 25 memo seen by Reuters.
#law #idiocracy #kakistocracy
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-justice-department-considers-merging-dea-atf-major-wave-cuts-memo-shows-2025-03-27
@jeffjarvis Looks like #ATF has a new meaning @aprilfollies
U.S. federal agents who usually hunt down child abusers, money launderers, drug traffickers and tax evaders are now pursuing illegal immigrants as part of U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/03/24/world/crime-legal/agents-trump-immigration-crackdown/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #worldnews #crimelegal #us #immigration #migration #donaldtrump #republicans #ice #atf #fbi #dea #humanrights
Kash Patel "told officials he planned to spend a lot of time in Las Vegas, where he was living last year. He ordered new decor for his DC office & asked for his personal trainer to be cleared to enter the bldg for his workouts."
He’s spending ~$100M of taxpayers’
#USPol #Kleptocracy
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/kash-patel-fbi-director-start-actions-c3d5d57f
#Trump plans to appoint #KashPatel, the new #FBI director, as interim head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives…. The move could come as early as next week.
The Patel appointment could be a precursor to merging the bureaus — eliminating the #ATF's #independence after 4 years of vigorous #GunControl efforts by the #Biden admin that Trump has vowed to reverse.
#law #GunViolence #authoritarianism #USpol
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-expected-kash-patel-acting-atf-director/story?id=119086967
“FBI Director Kash Patel is expected to take on another top law enforcement role in the Trump administration as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, sources say.”
The #TrumpMusk regime is consolidating power. Dem leaders must step up the pressure.
it occurs to me that the one agency i wouldn't mind DOGE tearing through would be the #ATF, but thanks to #NRA lobbyists and republican pandering they're still on microfiche last i heard. the republicans blocked #NIH funding into gun violence for decades. there's probably mountains of crimes in the ATF records room and nobody cares enough to start scanning film because they're told not to.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-atfs-nonsensical-non-searchable-gun-databases-explained-392/
https://www.europesays.com/1823552/ Georgia Power to Keep Coal, Gas Power Plants Running Longer as Demand Climbs #ATF #CoalPower #demand #ElectricityGeneration #EnergyPolicy #GasPrice #GeorgiaPower #GridReliability #IRP #LargeLoads #LiquefiedNaturalGas #lng #LNGPrice #NaturalGas #NuclearUprates #PowerPlantExtensions #transmission #UtilityPlanning
#ICE spox said the agency “began conducting enhanced targeted operations” Sun in #Chicago but declined details, citing an ongoing op. Spox for #FBI, #ATF & the #DEA confirmed involvement but didn't give other info.
#Chicago residents, especially in #immigrant circles, have already been on edge for months in anticipation of large-scale arrests touted by #Trump. The atmosphere has been especially tense the past week as top Trump ofcls vowed to start #immigration enforcement ops in Chicago….
Acting Deputy AG #EmilBove visited #Chicago to personally ‘observe’ the start of an #immigration enforcement crackdown promised by #Trump's admin in the nation's 3rd-largest city, few details of the op were made public.
Bove said he was in Chicago Sunday morning & observed #DHS agents, along w/assisting federal agencies—including the #FBI, #DEA & #ATF. He didn't say where the ops took place in the city or detail any arrests.
#law #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #CivilRights
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/acting-deputy-ag-visits-chicago-observe-immigration-enforcement-118120989
@PeasLuvnJustice Lying on #Form4473 is felony (a federal crime) and can get people up to 15 years of jail per count.
OFC this counts per gun and fillout!
#NotLegalAdvice but if he wasn't a white heterocisbinary dude he'd have his door kicked in by the #ATF the moment his drug use was public knowledge...
Trump's pick to lead #ATF, Blake Masters, offers up in an interview that he recommends the Unabomber, Ted Kazinsky, as a subversive thinker w/a positive message people should pay attention to.
https://azdem.org/masters-moment-the-one-where-he-praises-the-unabomber/
(#accelerationists' wet dream:)
Trump's candidate to lead the #ATF, according to Sebastian Gorka on "Salem'"
I wish I was joking.
CLICK!
Off goes #MeetTheRepublicans. As soon as a guest is allowed to say "Russia Hoax" with no pushback, that's it. I'm out (to quote Lindsey Graham.)
And to play the same clip of Matt #Gaetz MULTIPLE TIMES calling to "abolish the #FBI & The #ATF" without ONCE pointing out the way THESE SAME #REPUBLICANS vilified #Democrats for saying "Defund the police" is nauseating.
DO BETTER #MtP #MeetThePress. 
The #TrumpRally incident is being investigated as an attempted assassination, w/ the #FBI, #SecretService, & #ATF all working on the case, acc/to 2 people.
#Trump
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/13/2024-election-campaign-updates-biden-trump-rally/
In dissent, #SCOTUS Justice Sonia #Sotomayor said the majority’s opinion would have “deadly consequences," adding that the court “hamstrings the government’s efforts to keep machineguns from gunmen like the Las Vegas shooter.”
#law
#GunRegulations #ATF #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #GunControl #NRA #DarkMoney
In its ruling, the #SCOTUS majority said #BumpStocks do not qualify as #MachineGuns under a 1986 law that barred civilians from owning the weapons. The #Trump admin interpreted the #law to ban bump stocks in 2018, after a gunman used the devices to open fire on a Las Vegas music festival, ultimately killing 60 people in the deadliest #MassShooting in U.S. history.
#GunRegulations #ATF #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #GunControl #NRA #DarkMoney
#SCOTUS on Fri sided w/a Texas man who challenged a federal #law enacted during the Trump admin that #outlawed #BumpStocks, devices that greatly increase the rate of fire of semi-automatic #weapons.
The 6-3 ruling invalidates the #ban on bump stocks put in place following the 2017 mass shooting at a music festival in #LasVegas & finds that the #ATF exceed its #authority when it issued the ban in 2018.
#guns #GunControl
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-bump-stock-ban-opinion/
#SCOTUS rules govt CANNOT regulate #BumpStocks as machine #guns.
Bump stocks modify rifles to fire 800 rounds per minute w/a single trigger pull.
