What Should Trump do with the ATF? (Ft. GMU Professor Robert Leider)
Host Stephen Gutowski and guest George Mason University Professor Robert Leider discuss what the latter thinks should become of the ATF under Donald Trump.
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Show Notes
This week, we're looking ahead at the next four years of gun policy.
With Donald Trump coming back into office having already promised to fire the current ATF director, it's an open question of what he might do with the agency. That's why we have George Mason University Professor Robert Leider back on the show to hear his view of what moves gun-rights activists should pursue. Leider has studied the administrative side of gun policy.
He argues it would be more effective for activists to push for a competent ATF leader to institute pro-gun reforms than to try to cripple the organization. He noted it's very unlikely legislation to disband the ATF or to repeal the underlying laws it enforces could pass Congress. He said the ATF's responsibilities could be moved to another federal law enforcement agency, like the FBI, but argued they could upset activists just as much, if not more.
Leider believes Trump would be better off appointing a new director who understands how the agency operates. He said there are a lot of ways to affect federal gun policy without changing the underlying laws. That's because federal law specifically provides the agency with a lot of leeway on enforcement.
Special Guest: Robert Leider.