That Moment When the ATF Is on Gun Owners’ Side

While Virginia has had more than a couple of setbacks on its way toward becoming an anti-gun state, the truth is that it’s still trying to accomplish all of it. So far, we’re just looking at a hiccup in the path toward anti-gun dystopia Governor Spanberger is dedicated to.

You know, instead of the stuff she actually ran on.

But, for a change, we have some good news from the ATF.

It seems the agency most of us would curse with our dying breath is a completely different animal under Director Robert Cekada. It’s actually on our side.

I remain committed to ensuring lawful firearm owners are not negatively impacted by administrative or statutory changes. We will continue to work to make our processes fast, fair and accessible to all lawful applicants. 2/2

— Robert Cekada (@ATFDirectorRC) July 1, 2026

That’s right, boys and girls, the state of Virginia wants to ban certain guns, set a deadline, and the ATF scrambled to approve the paperwork ahead of the deadline so people can get these now forbidden guns.

Unfortunately, they can’t do more than that, but what a difference a couple of years makes, right?

It wasn’t that long ago when Dettelbach was tripping over himself trying to find ways to screw over lawful gun owners, and now we’ve got the ATF doing its best to make sure law-abiding Americans can access guns the state wanted to arbitrarily ban.

Of course, a better world would be one where the ATF doesn’t exist because the right to keep and bear arms is respected both federally and at the state and local levels. We don’t get that world, unfortunately. We’re stuck with this one, and for what Cekada and his people had available to them here and now, they did the one thing they could to hoist a middle finger toward Spanberger and her fellow Old Dominion anti-gun jihadists.

This isn’t perfect, but it’s what’s available.

Now, what we need is the Supreme Court to hear the case, rule on it quickly, and permanently smack this stupidity out of the legislative landscape once and for all.

Until then, it’s kind of nice having an ATF that’s actually on our side for a change. For decades, it’s been mostly aligned with anti-gunners, and we’ve all felt every bit of that “relationship.” It was incestuous to a massive degree, but it’s not now. Not at the upper levels, anyway, and that’s a nice change of pace.

It would also be nice if we could trust this to be the norm for generations to come, but alas, it’s not likely to be.

Cekada’s presence, though, does raise the standard for who gun rights supporters can expect to be nominated by supposedly pro-gun administrations. No more of these milquetoast entities that only like a little gun control compared to massive amounts. Let’s get some pro-gun people in there who will respect our rights as best they can within the confines of their roles. He’s proving that it’s possible and that people like him can be confirmed, and we have to press everyone going forward to keep this up.

You know, just to keep things spicy.

Editor’s Note: President Trump and Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.

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