Donald Trump Makes Big Change at ATF as Patel Exits Agency

When Donald Trump named FBI Director Kash Patel as Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the presumption was that Patel was taking on those additional job duties on a temporary basis. Still, I don’t think many folks were expecting Patel to step away from doing double duty after just a couple of months on the job. 

That’s exactly what’s happened, however, with Trump naming Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll as the ATF’s new Acting Director, effective today. 

FBI Director Kash Patel has been removed from his role as acting director of the ATF, and the job has been given to Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, two Justice Department officials and another source familiar with the matter tell NBC News.

ATF officials who learned the news today…

— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) April 9, 2025

If Patel’s absence from ATF HQ and his workload at the FBI were the primary reasons for his departure, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to appoint someone else who already has a full-time gig in the administration as the new (and temporary) head of the agency, which makes me wonder how long Driscoll himself will stick around… and who Trump might name (if anyone) as his choice for a permanent ATF Director. 

It’s also unclear whether other personnel moves may be in the making. On Tuesday’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co, retired deputy assistant director Pete Forcelli said he expects that Assistant ATF Director Marvin Richardson, who’s been handling much of the day-to-day duties of the director, will also soon be replaced. Richardson appears to still have a job, at least for now, and albeit with a new boss. 

The National Shooting Sports Foundation was quick to praise Driscoll’s appointment in a press release issued shortly after the news broke. 

“President Trump’s decision to appoint Acting Director Driscoll is indicative of his resolve to bring reform to the ATF and protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens and the industry that makes it possible to exercise those rights,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “NSSF is deeply appreciative of FBI Director Kash Patel’s service to lead the ATF as Acting Director for nearly two months in his interim role and the recognition, along with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, that the ATF was weaponized by the previous administration to carry out a radical gun control agenda. The firearm industry is confident that President Trump’s appointment of Acting Director Driscoll to lead the ATF will return the bureau to its proper role as a law enforcement agency laser focused on combatting violent crime and illegal firearms trafficking, and to act as a non-partisan regulator of the firearm industry.”

NSSF is confident Acting Director Driscoll will view members of the firearm industry, including licensed retailers, as ATF’s partners on the front lines of keeping firearms out of the wrong hands, combatting illegal firearms trafficking and preventing violent crime involving the misuse of firearms.

Driscoll is an Army veteran and Yale Law School grad who previously interned with former Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski, who was one of the most libertarian members of the liberal-dominated appellate court. Driscoll doesn’t really have a record on Second Amendment issues, and the White House hasn’t yet offered a rationale for naming him Acting Director or how long they expect him to remain in the position, but I don’t expect him to turn into the second coming of Steve Dettelbach or David Chipman now that he’s in charge of the agency. 

What this means for the ATF in the long or even medium term remains to be seen, but let’s hope that the NSSF is right that with Driscoll at the helm, the agency will be focused on going after violent crime and illegal gun trafficking instead of trying to turn lawful gun owners into criminals.