Saturday, October 10, 2020

Will President Trump Let ATF Continue to Rule by Unchecked Diktat with Honey Badger ‘Reclassification'?

 

“This form should be the basis of any determination and if there is not one to support the ‘Correspondence Approval and Clearance Form,’ well them somebody made this up out of whole cloth and those somebodies signed off on it before it was sent out,” Savage concludes. “It not hard to find out, it's getting anybody to give a damn.” [More]

It's almost like someone on the inside timed this to help demoralize gun owners right before the election because the message it sends is any can be deemed criminals on a bureaucratic whim by an administration we're told is on our side. 

It's not too late to curb your dogs, Mr. President.

4 comments:

Mack said...

Excellent reporting at Firearms News.

To be fair to the President, these are not his dogs. As Crump points out:

Rogue ATF Leadership Targets the Honey Badger & Gun Voters Before the Election
https://www.ammoland.com/2020/10/rogue-atf-heads-targets-the-honey-badger-before-the-election/

[SNIP]
ATF Acting Director Regina Lombardo, who is not President Trump's pick to lead the ATF, is a career bureaucrat. AmmoLand New’s sources inside the agency say she is not loyal to the president. Several independent sources have stated that Lombardo has a narrower definition of the Second Amendment than President Trump & the rest of America.

Sources also tell AmmoLand News that Associate Deputy Director Marvin Richardson, another career bureaucrat, has an ax-to-grind against pistol braces and belives they violate the NFA but doesn’t think that they have the political capital to make a move against the millions of accessories under a Trump presidency. Those inside ATF with knowledge of the situation told AmmoLand News that higher-ups at the ATF believe that they will have the political capital and cover to go after braces under an anti-gun Biden administration.

David Codrea said...

Of course they are his dogs. ATF leadership serves at the pleasure of the president. And he could do an EO today if he was motivated.

Mack said...

Well, not so fast. The leadership is 'Acting' leadership.

Bureaucrats. Civil Service is a problem.

If he survives the election for a 2nd term, I would like for him to go scorched-earth and and fire just about anybody. But can he?

White House Advisor Sought Legal Opinion to Allow Trump to Fire Anyone In Government
https://www.govexec.com/management/2020/06/white-house-advisor-sought-legal-opinion-trump-can-fire-anyone-government/166445/

Trump wants to fire federal employees at will. A federal judge said he can’t.
https://www.vox.com/2018/8/27/17786324/trump-fires-government-employees-union

When can the federal government lawfully terminate employees?
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/commentary/2020/03/when-can-the-federal-government-lawfully-terminate-employees/

Then there's this:

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/492318-federal-officials-fired-by-trump-face-tough-road-in-court

[SNIP]
The various layers are spelled out in the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, the main federal law that governs a federal worker’s due process rights upon firing.

Unless an agency can show a good reason to remove them, federal workers tend to “enjoy a type of tenure,” said employment attorney Richard Renner.

Many employees can also challenge their dismissals through an appeals avenue called the Merit Systems Protection Board.

David Codrea said...

Yes, so fast.

Management allocates how the budget will be spent.