With Steve Dettelbach officially out as the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Deputy Director Marvin Richardson will return as the default head of the embattled agency.
This isn’t the first time Richardson has run the Bureau, having previously been Acting Director from 2021 to 2022. And if gun owners believe that a career ATF employee will be better for gun rights than a political activist like former Director Dettelbach, they might be surprised to learn of Mr. Richardson’s history at the helm of the ATF. In fact, Richardson was the driving force behind the ATF’s war on pistol braces and privately manufactured firearms (PMFs).
In 2020, AmmoLand News learned through inside ATF contacts that, days after that presidential election, ATF acting director Regina Lombardo and acting assistant director Richardson began to collude with the Biden transition team to prioritize the Bureau’s goals.
These two ATF heads highlighted that they wanted to tackle pistol braces and PMFs, and these conversations led directly to the subsequent ATF rules cracking down on pistol stabilizing devices and unfinished firearms frames and receivers. Even though Richardson was only an acting assistant director at the time, pushing to go after braces was his idea.
Even before that meeting, Mr. Richardson had been no fan of braced pistols. At his direction, ATF’s enforcement side issued cease and desist letters to Q, LLC, regarding its Honey Badger pistol, which was equipped with an SB Tactical brace. The ATF claimed that the Honey Badger was a short-barreled rifle (SBR). ATF’s enforcement side issued the letters after the Trump Justice Department (DOJ) had ordered ATF’s industry side not to move on braces. And Q, LLC wasn’t the only company to receive a letter; multiple companies producing braced pistols also received them. But eventually, the ATF was forced to back down.
During the time, Richardson complained that the ATF didn’t have the “political capital” to go after braces but was hopeful that it would once Biden came into office. Shortly after Biden entered office the President ordered the ATF to change the rules on braces and PMFs. It seems Richardson was right about having the political capital to attack the market.
When AmmoLand originally published its story and leaks, it was reported that Richardson was “not happy” with this publication – or this reporter.
AmmoLand News writer Dean Weingarten confirmed as much with independent sourcing and confirmed that Richardson believed braced pistols violated the National Firearms Act (NFA).
Even though Richardson’s tenure as deputy director has seen the pistol brace rule defeated in multiple courts, the ATF recently asserted that braced pistols still need to be registered with the NFA and that the owners still must pay $200 for a tax stamp. ATF’s silly theory was that, even though the pistol brace rule is enjoined, ATF can still interpret the statute – even using the very same theory from the rule – to regulate braced pistols as SBRs.
This damning information was uncovered by Gun Owners of America (GOA), which immediately sent the ATF a letter reminding the rogue agency that it is powerless to act against braces thanks to numerous rulings out of federal district courts and also the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
ATF reluctantly backed down under threat of further action by GOA in an email sent to GOA Senior Vice President Erich Pratt. Nevertheless, this incident shows that high-level ATF officials, presumably including soon-to-be acting head Richardson, still want to target braces. This, plus Richardson’s targeting of braces the last time, even while President Trump was still in office, means that there is little reason to believe that Richardson will stop now.
President Trump should avoid ATF defaulting to a Richardson regime under the man who is responsible for at least some of the ATF’s continued war on pistol braces.
To that end, President Trump should appoint a new ATF director as soon as possible. Gun owners need someone who is constitutionally minded, a friend of the firearms industry and community, and who has the determination and fortitude to start unraveling decades of ATF’s targeting of gun owners and malfeasance against the Second Amendment.
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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.
