BELLEVUE, WA – Reacting to a call by 14 perennially anti-gun House Democrats that President Donald Trump remove Kash Patel as acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms suggested the group “pound sand.”
In their March 3 letter, these Democrats asserted that since Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in June 2022 under the Biden administration, “violent crime hit an almost 50-year low, and we’ve seen the single largest homicide rate drop in recent history.”
“Apparently,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “everybody who signed that letter slept through last year’s stunning revelation that the FBI’s initial report of a 1.7 percent decrease in violent crime from 2021 to 2022 was quietly adjusted to show a 4.5 percent increase. House Oversight Chair James Comer launched a probe of this revision last October.
“Maybe these Democrats are concerned that Patel will investigate possible abuses the agency allegedly committed during the Biden years,” Gottlieb added. “While they complain how ‘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,’ under Patel’s leadership at FBI, the agency has just caught its third ‘Most Wanted’ fugitive since President Trump took office.
“Capitol Hill Democrats are delighted to have an ATF which gets mixed up in colossal debacles like ‘Operation Fast and Furious,’” he continued, “or cancelling federal firearms licenses because a small dealer might make a technical paperwork error. Yet, where have these Democrats been when their colleagues have championed legislation making it tougher for law-abiding citizens to exercise their full rights under the Second Amendment? Where were they when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were advocating for gun bans and restrictions on the rights of young adults? They were right there pushing for and cheering such infringements.
“As for Patel’s qualifications,” Gottlieb noted, “he has held various positions within the Justice Department, and they know it. Democrats want someone at ATF who will ‘faithfully administer laws that keep Americans safe.’ We expect Patel to do exactly that. We’re wondering if that’s what really concerns the people who signed the letter.”