Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives acting Director Marvin Richardson is being demoted, a report said Wednesday.
U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino will replace Richardson, multiple sources told The Reload.
According to the sources, Richardson announced the move on a conference call Monday.
"The news that he was being replaced came as a shock to most of us within the agency," one ATF official told The Reload.
Sources told The Reload that Richardson's demotion likely resulted from perceptions inside the administration that he was too friendly toward the gun industry.
"This administration has some very strong opinions on guns," a source told The Reload. "They may have some distaste with that. So, bringing in [Restaino] kind of negates that."
The move comes after a recent New York Times article featured complaints from gun-control activists that Richardson was "an industry-friendly subordinate pumping the brakes" on President Joe Biden's progressive gun-control initiatives.
Richardson, a veteran of more than 30 years with ATF, is being moved out of the acting director position months before a permanent director might be confirmed.
On April 11, Biden announced he was nominating former federal prosecutor Steve Dettelbach to run ATF. Administration officials acknowledge Dettelbach faces long odds in the Senate largely because gun-rights groups routinely oppose any nominee for the agency who regulates guns, CNN reported.
One source told The Reload that although the administration was concerned about Richardson's efforts to maintain a working relationship with the industry, that connection did not soften ATF's enforcement of gun regulations.
"A lot of the tips that we would get on illegal firearms activity from straw purchasers to traffickers came from dealers," the source told The Reload. "The reality is just a very, very small percentage of gun dealers are bad. So, those partnerships are important, and Marvin really did a great job at nurturing those relationships.
"The fact that he has those relationships may not have sat well with the current administration. And I'm sure that that might've helped them push him out."
While one ATF source told The Reload that Richardson's demotion was met with disappointment by many of the staff, another source said, "As a person, he was very well-liked. Marvin is a nice guy, but he's not a strong leader."
Restaino spent 18 years as an assistant U.S. attorney before being confirmed as the U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona.
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