Effective on January 18, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Director Steve Dettelbach will resign his position just days ahead of the Trump Presidential Inauguration.

Mr. Dettelbach’s days were numbered as the head of the embattled agency. No one expected President Trump to keep him as the head of the organization regulating firearms in the United States. President Trump has already started a search for a new ATF Director. To avoid being fired, Dettelbach resigned.

Mr. Dettelbach was President Biden’s second choice after anti-gun zealot David Chipman failed to be confirmed. Many believe that the Chipman nomination was made to lay the groundwork for President Biden to nominate his real choice to head the ATF. The nomination of Chipman was almost guaranteed to fail due to Chipman’s extreme stance on guns and his work with multiple anti-gun organizations.

Mr. Dettelbach’s confirmation hearing was not smooth sailing. Multiple members of Congress challenged him on his stance on gun control. Although he was not as extreme as Chipman, he still was anti-gun. One thing that caught everyone by surprise during his hearing was his inability to define an “assault weapon” while advocating for their ban.

The ATF director has retired rather than the alternative of being fired when President Trump takes office.

How many lies can you spot in the resignation letter below pic.twitter.com/znXCX9DVUc

— Mrgunsngear (@Mrgunsngear) December 31, 2024

During Dettelbach’s reign, the ATF went to war against Federal Firearms Licensees (FFL). The ATF instituted a “zero tolerance” policy against “rogue” gun dealers. FFL revocations skyrocketed by 500%. Things like clerical errors caused gun stores to be shut down. Many Americans lost their livelihood to an overbearing government agency. Almost every time one of these gun stores sued the ATF, the agency reversed its decision to revoke the FFL, thus mooting the case.

The ATF also tried to reclassify millions of pistols equipped with pistol stabilizing devices as short barreled rifles (SBR). This new rule also ended up in court, where it was knocked down on multiple occasions. The courts believed that the ATF tried to do a “bait and switch.” Enacting a rule that looked nothing like the proposed rule. This move violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) because the enacted rule was not a logical outgrowth of the proposed rule.

Under Dettelbach’s leadership, the ATF would also lose multiple times on frames and receivers in court. The ATF tried to reclassify pre-cursor gun parts as firearms. A Federal District Court judge would knock down the rule and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals would also agree with the District Court’s decision. The case is currently at SCOTUS.

Dettelbach also tried to change what it meant to be engaged in the business of dealing firearms. The new definition of a gun dealer was so broad that almost everyone could be considered a dealer. The goal was to get backdoor universal background checks. A Federal District Court has also blocked that rule.

Under Dettlebach, the ATF’s attempt to classify forced reset triggers (FRT) as machine guns has so far failed. The ATF tried to argue that these devices are nothing more than drop-in auto sears (DIAS). The courts have rejected the argument by ruling that these devices do not fit the statute definition of a machine gun. This case is also still being litigated.

Three Supreme Court cases were decided on Dettelbach’s watch. Two of these were outright defeats for the ATF. The most groundbreaking was Bruen. This case confirmed that Americans have the right to bear arms outside the home, thus making every state “shall issue.” More importantly, it killed interest balancing, meaning that only the text, tradition, and history of the Second Amendment could be used to determine if a gun law was constitutional.

The second defeat the ATF experienced at SCOTUS was Cargill. The ATF rule that redefined bump stocks to be machine guns was knocked down. The ATF tried to change the language of the law to shoehorn bump stocks into the definition of a machine gun. SCOTUS rejected the ATF’s attempt.

Rahimi was the final Supreme Court decision that negatively affected Dettelbach’s gun control scheme. Although SCOTUS did rule that “dangerous” people could be disarmed, it did rule that the disarming could only be temporary, meaning that millions of non-violent felons have a path back to gun ownership by challenging the ATF in court using the legal precedence set in the Rahimi case.

After reviewing years of ATF cases, we have concluded that Dettelbach will go down in history as the ATF Director with the most legal defeats.

About John Crump

Mr. Crump is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people from all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons, follow him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.