By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Emails show the controversial rapid-fire bump stock device used in the Las Vegas massacre last year caused a lot of angst and handwringing inside ATF, a report in USA Today shows. It also shows why the devices are still legal in many states. Nick Penzenstadler of USA Today reports: Within hours…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The Justice Department and ATF announced Thursday that it will provide ballistic imaging equipment used by ATF’s National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) to 22 state and local law enforcement agencies. “Under President Donald Trump, the Department of Justice is prosecuting more firearm offenders than ever before,” Attorney General Sessions said…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence is urging President Barack Obama to provide ATF with adequate resources to battle gun violence and appoint a permanent director for the agency. In a letter dated Nov. 4, Jim Johnson, the Baltimore County Police chief, who is chair of the anti-gun…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com CHICAGO — Tom Brandon, head of ATF, wonders at time when gun violence is such a pressing issue in America, why the agency isn’t getting more funding for additional agents. He says with an additional 200 agents “we could really make a huge difference.” Brandon became an ATF agent in 1989….
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Tom Brandon, will no longer be the acting director of ATF as of Wednesday. He’ll be deputy director. But Brandon wants the troops to know: “My title is changing, my duties are not.” By law, Brandon can’t hold that interim title of acting director for longer than 210 days. It runs…
By Sarah Wheaton Politico WASHINGTON — The White House thinks the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is doing such a great job, they’re planning to demote him. The unusual move allows the administration, which has said fighting gun violence is a top priority, to avoid a nasty confirmation hearing for a…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com B. Todd Jones, the head of ATF, who first stepped in as acting director in 2011, and later became the first ATF directory in history to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, is stepping down, effective March 31. The announcement from ATF came in a press release, which said he’s departing…
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com ATF whistleblower Peter Forcelli told ticklethewire.com on Thursday that the current leadership at ATF is being unfairly attacked and wrongly accused of trying to silence whistleblowers like himself. “It’s not fair, these guys are trying to do the right thing,” he says about the new leadership at ATF. The comments by…
