Robert Leider, Affiliate Professor at Antonin Scalia Regulation Faculty, George Mason College, has taken over because the ATF’s Assistant Director and Chief Counsel.
This comes lower than a month after the Trump administration issued strolling papers to Pamela Hicks and confirmed her the door. The timing of the transfer couldn’t be higher, as gun homeowners are dropping endurance with the method whereas watching different points precede the Second Modification and holdover idiots like U.S. Lawyer Michael Simpson stating that suppressors fall exterior the constitutional proper to bear arms.
Notably, Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi has grow to be considerably of a polarizing determine, as her historical past on gun rights is just not sterling, and he or she is overdue together with her report concerning the President’s government order on the Second Modification. AG Bondi and President Trump, nevertheless, have indicated a brand new leaf on the topic, and whatever the snags we’ve skilled, it’s tempting to see appointments like Kash Patel to ATF Director and hires like Robert Leider as incremental steps in the correct path.
So, who’s Rober Leider, and why ought to his new place throughout the ATF encourage a glimmer of hope for gun homeowners? Leider has earned his fair proportion of schooling with an undergraduate diploma from George Washington College, a PhD from Georgetown, his J.D. from Yale, and he has clerked for america Supreme Court docket and the Court docket of Appeals. Whereas this sounds spectacular, it might additionally sound like he’s well-versed in swamp tradition, so we should look at his private historical past to reply this query.
As Washington Gun Regulation President and authorized knowledgeable William Kirk factors out, Leider is “nicely on report as a public writer of being a staunch, staunch supporter of the Second Modification.” In a latest video on his YouTube channel, Kirk talks a couple of late 2024 journal written by Leider entitled Evaluation: Gun-Rights Advocates Would Profit Extra From ATF Reform Than the Company’s Elimination. This is a vital challenge as many gun homeowners, myself included, have grow to be understandably jaded by the company and might not be seeing the forest via the timber on the matter.
“These folks had been focusing on gun homeowners– not going to occur underneath this administration. And we’re seeking to rent actually nice folks,” mentioned Pam Bondi.
This can be a folks downside, and as exhausting as it might be to listen to, after years of abuse inflicted upon the Second Modification neighborhood, a reformed ATF can serve Individuals in a fashion per the Structure. The company could make defending our inalienable rights their primary precedence. Whereas I admit that is nonetheless a dream, I’d concede its chance. I might invite an ATF that ceased all criminalization of Constitutionally protected actions and turned its focus to investigating and prosecuting violations of our rights federally, state by state, and municipality by municipality.
To this impact, Robert Leider has an intensive written report of his obligation to and reverence for america Structure and the Second Modification. I encourage studying his written work, together with the next recommended entries, if understanding him higher pursuits you.
The Particular person Proper To Bear Arms For Frequent Protection
The Basic Proper to Bear Arms
The Fashionable Militia
Authorized consultants and pro-Second Modification organizations like Gun Homeowners of America have responded to the announcement with pleasure, not just for Leider but additionally for AG Pam Bondi’s determination to convey him aboard. May this sign a extra complicated chess recreation being performed on the highest ranges as items are moved into place one after the other, with the aim being to revive the Second Modification? Perhaps, however solely time will inform. My reluctance to pop corks, nevertheless, comes from understanding that whereas these measures could also be efficient at stopping a number of the bleeding, we are going to want Congress to proper legal guidelines beforehand put in place that violate the Structure, a job exterior the unilateral authority of a regulatory company.
Coming to that time is a a lot steeper climb for the Second Modification neighborhood, and establishing assurances that the identical rights won’t be violated once more with political ebb and movement is a problem. If I had been in control of assembly that problem head-on, hiring somebody like Robert Leider could be on the high of my to-do record. He’s now ready to make a distinction, not solely in ongoing ATF litigation but additionally in future actions in opposition to those that stay in defiance of American gun rights. So, don’t understand my reluctance to boost the roof negatively. Perceive it as well-tempered optimism whereas we remind leaders of their commitments and the loyalty and reward that accompany stored guarantees.
