Trump Nominates 20-Year ATF Veteran to Be New Director

President Donald Trump has nominated Robert Cekada, a 20-year veteran of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), to be its new director. The ATF has been run by interim directors since former Director Steve Dettelbach resigned just before Trump began his second term in January.

The nomination was referred to the Senate’s Judiciary Committee. Cekada has been an ATF deputy director since April 2024.

Second Amendment advocacy groups praised the choice.

Erich Pratt, senior vice president for Gun Owners of America (GOA), said Cekada should reform the agency.

“If Mr. Cekada is confirmed, we hope he will break with ATF’s current legacy of tyranny and work with GOA to end the agency’s egregious acts and honor both the letter and spirit of the Second Amendment,” Pratt wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.

Knox Williams, president and executive director of the American Suppressor Association (ASA), said Cekada has worked to protect the rights of those in the gun industry as well as American gun owners.

Suppressors, commonly called silencers, reduce the sound of a firearm discharge. They are regulated similarly to machine guns under the National Firearms Act. According to its website, the ASA wants to reduce such regulations so Americans can use suppressors to protect their hearing.

“In his role as deputy director, we have worked closely with Robert Cekada to ensure law-abiding gun owners have a seat at the table in shaping policy,” Williams said.

The White House, the ATF, and several gun control organizations did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Under Dettelbach’s leadership, the ATF focused on privately made guns, often referred to as “ghost guns,” and the manufacturing of parts that can be used to convert legal guns into guns that can perform outlawed functions.

Under Dettelbach, the ATF outlawed pistol-stabilizing braces, which were designed to assist disabled shooters. The agency also expanded the definition of “engaged in the business” of selling guns. It was previously defined as selling or offering to sell guns for one’s livelihood; the definition was changed to selling guns to “predominantly earn a profit.”

The expanded definition requires anyone selling a single gun for profit to have a Federal Firearms License (FFL) and to conduct background checks on customers. The Trump administration is currently reviewing this rule.

However, what may have been the ATF’s most controversial move was its “zero tolerance” policy.

Under this policy, FFL holders were forced out of business for what had previously been considered simple clerical errors on ATF forms. This policy played a role in some high-profile raids at the homes of FFL holders and in the closing of several firearms businesses.

After Dettelbach’s resignation in January, FBI Director Kash Patel was appointed acting ATF director in February. He was replaced by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll in April, and Cekada was appointed deputy director under Driscoll, a move that drew praise from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) at that time.

“Deputy Director Cekada has the experience, wisdom and respect of his colleagues to effectively lead the men and women of the ATF,” Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF vice president and general counsel, said in April. “[He] … understands that the firearm industry is not the ‘enemy’ but [a] valuable partner that assists ATF in … combatting violent crime.”

According to the ATF website, Cekada was a police officer with the New York City Police Department and the Plantation Police Department in Broward County, Florida, where he served with the Patrol Division and Special Weapons and Tactics Team.

He began his ATF career in 2005 as a special agent in the Baltimore Field Division. He has also served as the deputy assistant director of Field Operations Central and as the special agent in charge of the Miami Field Division, the Baltimore Field Division, and the Philadelphia Field Division.

He also serves as a board member on the National Crime Gun Intelligence Governing Board and on the IACP Firearms Committee.

Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, said that Cekada has the experience needed to lead the ATF.

“With these credentials, Mr. Cekada comes qualified to head the agency, which is changing its focus under the current administration,” Gottlieb wrote in a statement released on Nov. 19.