Kash Patel wasn't my personal choice for heading the ATF. I loved him as an FBI pick, but I kind of wanted to see Brandon Herrera in that role. It would have been glorious.
But Patel was the pick and, frankly, a solid one. Especially since Democrats seem to absolutely hate the idea. In fact, they want him to be fired before he's even gotten settled in.
To be fair, there are reasons why someone might want him gone as head of the ATF that I could sort of understand. For example, thinking it's too much for one person to helm two different federal law enforcement agencies. I think that's a fair concern.
But that's not why they want him out.
Oh no, they have an even dumber reason.
A group of Democrats are calling on President Trump to remove FBI Director Kash Patel as the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Fourteen Democratic members of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, chaired by Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), expressed “grave concerns” over Patel’s leadership position at the agency in a letter to Trump dated March 3 and shared on social media by Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday.
“As you are aware, ATF is the lead law enforcement agency responsible for addressing the gun violence epidemic in our country. At a time when gun violence is the leading cause of death for children and teenagers in the United States, it is unconscionable that someone without experience fighting crime, responding to mass shootings or confronting domestic terrorism has been named as ATF’s Acting Director,” the Democrats wrote.
...“Running ATF is a deadly serious job. Naming an unqualified partisan to oversee our federal gun violence prevention laws is a disservice to the American people and offensive to every American child who has grown up fearful of gun violence in their schools and communities,” the Democrats wrote.
“We urge you to name a qualified director at ATF who will faithfully administer laws that keep Americans safe,” they concluded.
What's so insane about this is that if this criticism was so vital, why aren't they making the same argument about the FBI? They have a far broader range of authority that also involves some illegal activities revolving around guns. They don't seem nearly as concerned there, now do they?
Let's understand a few things about the ATF, though, which these Democrats also are aware of.
First, most ATF cases aren't arrests made by the ATF. They're not even investigated by the agency. Most of them are just cases where they tack on some federal charges to arrests made by local cops, then claim credit for the arrests.
Most arrests made involving violent criminals who use guns to terrorize our communities are made by local law enforcement as well.
I will grant that federal agents were heavily involved in a recent raid that found a convicted felon in possession of around 50 firearms. That was the FBI, though, because I guess it was just too far away from the coffee pot for the ATF.
So why do they really want him fired?
Well, Kash Patel has talked a lot about what he believes regarding gun rights, and absolutely none of it lines up with what Democrats want out of the only federal agency explicitly designated to trample on a constitutionally protected right. He won't ban things like bump stocks or pistol braces, at least in their eyes, so he has to go.
The good news is that there's a better chance of Kate Beckinsale DMing me on social media to confess her undying desire for me and my wife being down with me following up on that than there is of Trump listening to these morons.
