Robert Leider, a law professor who has written in defense of the Second Amendment, has become the new chief counsel of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
The website for the ATF, which continues to show FBI Director Kash Patel as the leader of the agency, now shows Leider as chief counsel. The decision to appoint the George Mason University associate professor was celebrated by several backers of the Second Amendment.
Leider has written analyses defending the right to keep and bear arms, contending in a paper last year that the United States Constitution did not “primarily address military federalism” but instead allowed for “dual land forces, a professional standing army and an amateur militia.”
One analysis published by Leider after the election of President Donald Trump advocated that the coalition would “fare better working through ATF to implement their preferred regulatory reforms” rather than merely trying to “use their political capital to destroy” the federal agency.
“Shutting down ATF would do nothing to relieve the legal restrictions imposed by federal gun control,” he said of the Gun Control Act and the National Firearms Act. “These restrictions stem directly from laws passed by Congress, and only Congress can change or eliminate them.”
Because advocates may not “find sixty votes in the Senate to repeal or reform most federal gun laws,” he said they should instead “work within the regulatory state that many of them despise.”
The appointment of Leider also comes after Trump signed an executive order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to examine all rules promulgated by the Justice Department and the ATF, as well as agency classifications of firearms and ammunition, to identify violations of gun rights.
“The Second Amendment is an indispensable safeguard of security and liberty. It has preserved the right of the American people to protect ourselves, our families, and our freedoms since the founding of our great nation,” the executive order said. “Because it is foundational to maintaining all other rights held by Americans, the right to keep and bear arms must not be infringed.”
