Former ATF Official Now Working for Everytown Wants States to Target Gun Dealers

Based mostly upon her writing abilities, it might in all probability take former ATF official Marianna Mitchem 15 or 20 minutes simply to inform somebody that they’re on hearth.

Mitchem actually likes her phrases, and it reveals, in line with a protracted, wordy story she lately co-wrote for her new employer, Everytown for Gun Security.

Mitchem joined Everytown in August after leaving the ATF. One former ATF official mentioned she reached out to her former colleagues after leaving, attempting to focus on Glock and Glock-type handguns, however extra about her bio in a bit.

Her story, “The Provide Facet of Violence: How Gun Sellers Gas Firearm Trafficking,” like a lot of Everytown’s anti-gun propaganda, targets gun sellers as in the event that they’re solely accountable for crime.

Mitchem’s coauthors, Nick Suplina and Chelsea Parsons, each labored for the New York State Lawyer Basic’s Workplace and are longtime Everytown staffers. As you possibly can think about, the three authors labored onerous to focus on President Donald Trump and his administration for its pro-gun stance.

The ATF underneath President Joe Biden, the authors claimed, “used crime gun intelligence to close down identified trafficking networks and establish the worst-of-the-worst sellers.”

However at no level did Mitchem or her group ever point out the hurt and lack of life the ATF dedicated underneath Biden, such because the killing of Bryan Malinowski, or the false fees filed towards Patrick “Tate” Adamiak, which led to his undeserved 20-year jail sentence that he’s nonetheless serving.

As a substitute, the authors claimed that focusing on gun sellers will “defend our communities from gun trafficking.”

“States can step into the void created by federal abdication and enact insurance policies and enforcement plans that may stop trafficking from occurring and maintain all culpable actors to account when it does,” the authors claimed.

In accordance with their story, right here is how the authors plan to fill this so-called federal “void.” I ought to level out that the plan was taken proper from their report.

Require gun sellers to acquire a state licensein addition to the license required by federal legislation, and prohibit issuance of a license to an individual who’s prohibited from having weapons underneath federal or state legislation or who has a latest firearm conviction, who has beforehand had a gun seller license revoked (absent extenuating circumstances), or the place the issuance of the license can be a hazard to public security.
Require gun sellers to implement safety measures to forestall theft, together with bodily securing weapons on the enterprise premises, using alarm and video surveillance techniques, and putting in safety measures designed to forestall unauthorized entry on all exterior doorways and home windows.
Mandate annual background checks and coaching—together with find out how to establish straw purchasers and different indicators of trafficking—for gun sellers and their workers.
Authorize a state company or native legislation enforcement to conduct common compliance inspections of gun sellers, prioritizing inspections of newly licensed sellers and people with the very best proportion of crime gun traces with a brief TTC.
Require gun sellers to ship data of all gun gross sales to state officers for retention; present authorities with ongoing digital entry to data of firearm acquisition, disposition, and stock; and notify state authorities of all hint requests acquired from ATF.
Authorize disciplinary motion towards gun sellers who violate the legislation, together with obligatory suspension of the state license for a seller who’s charged with a disqualifying crime and obligatory revocation of the license in specified circumstances, together with failing to conduct a required background verify, refusing to permit authorities to conduct an inspection, knowingly or negligently transferring a firearm to a prohibited particular person, failing to answer a hint request, or falsifying data.
Require gun sellers to offer info to gun patrons on the level of sale about safe storage, suicide prevention, and the dangers related to firearm possession.
Set up a minimal threshold for accountable enterprise conduct by gun sellers and permit for civil legal responsibility if their firearms trigger hurt.
Require authorities to organize an annual report that features info on seller purposes, inspections, and disciplinary actions, in addition to an evaluation of crime gun hint information exhibiting patterns and traits referring to crime weapons and trafficking.

These so-called “necessities” are, fairly frankly, a joke. They might put almost each gun seller out of enterprise, a reality which I’m positive was not misplaced on the authors.

Apart from, gun sellers are licensed by the federal authorities. They don’t want a state license or state and native inspections, and they need to by no means be required to offer state or native officers with the names of gun purchasers.

Additionally, establishing a “minimal threshold for accountable enterprise conduct by gun sellers” to permit the sellers to be civilly sued if their firearms are ever misused is ludicrous. This, too, would put the sellers out of enterprise, which, once more, is strictly what the authors need.

Mitchem’s anti-gun historical past

Mitchem started her 20-year ATF profession in 2005 as an IOI, an Business Operations Investigator, who examine gun retailers to ensure their data and stock are documented accurately. She labored unarmed and was by no means an ATF Particular Agent, who’re armed and charged with imposing federal legislation.

She was promoted to discipline supervisor in 2011, and by 2014, was put in command of Business Operations for ATF’s Phoenix Area Division.

She moved to Washington D.C. in 2017, when she grew to become ATF’s deputy chief of Area Administration Employees. One yr later, she was promoted to chief.

In 2019, Mitchem grew to become ATF’s deputy chief of workers, and reported to ATF’s director. One yr later, she grew to become the chief of the Firearms and Explosives Business Division.

Mitchem held her closing place as Affiliate Assistant Director of Area Operations (Business Operations), from March 2024 till she left in Could 2025.

She has been described as good and a great communicator, however very anti-gun.

Issues modified for Mitchem when former President Joe Biden appointed Steve Dettelbach to run ATF. Mitchem was given extra duties and obligations.

The previous ATF official described her as “Dettelbach’s puppet.” She was his “celebrity” and was accountable for ATF’s body or receiver ruling and for going after “ghost weapons,” which grew to become considerably problematic.

If legislation enforcement officers couldn’t discover a firearm’s serial quantity, the firearm was nonetheless added to the “ghost gun” listing, as a result of the ATF by no means checked or verified any of the firearms added to the listing.

This prompted ATF and different companies to query the validity of its personal database, which Mitchem was accountable for creating. Nonetheless, the Biden Administration used the listing strongly to advertise its anti-gun efforts.

Takeaways

A number of efforts to contact Mitchem weren’t profitable.

It’s fascinating to notice that the LinkedIn pages of her coauthors, Nick Suplina and Chelsea Parsons, strongly level out their employment with Everytown. Suplina describes himself as “Senior Vice President for Regulation & Coverage at Everytown for Gun Security,” and Parsons describes herself as Everytown’s “Senior Director of Implementation.”

Nonetheless, Mitchem’s LinkedIn web page comprises no point out of Everytown. She describes herself solely as a “Former ATF Affiliate Assistant Director.”

Maybe her new employment with Everytown was a bit an excessive amount of, even for her.

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About Lee Williams

Lee Williams, who’s also called “The Gun Author,” is the chief editor of the Second Modification Basis’s Investigative Journalism Venture. Till lately, he was additionally an editor for a every day newspaper in Florida. Earlier than turning into an editor, Lee was an investigative reporter at newspapers in three states and a U.S. Territory. Earlier than turning into a journalist, he labored as a police officer. Earlier than turning into a cop, Lee served within the Military. He’s earned greater than a dozen nationwide journalism awards as a reporter, and three medals of valor as a cop. Lee is an avid tactical shooter.