2A Legal Scholar Now Chief Counsel at ATF

[mauserme]

https://www.guns.com/news/2025/03/20/pro-2a-law-professor-now-chief-counsel-at-atf

 

2A Legal Scholar Now Chief Counsel at ATF

 

3/20/2025 - Chris Eger

 

Less than a month after the Trump administration fired the top lawyer at the ATF, a new face has appeared on the agency's leadership page. 

In late February, Guns.com reported that Pamela Hicks, a Justice Department attorney who had been serving as the agency's Chief Counsel since 2021, had been terminated. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi at the time told the media, "These people were targeting gun owners-- not going to happen under this administration. And we're looking to hire really great people."

 

This week, with Hicks' photo long scrubbed from the ATF's leadership page, a new face appeared, that of Robert Leider, listed as Assistant Director/Chief Counsel.

 

Who is Leider, and why does he matter to gun owners? 
 

Self-described on his social media page as "Associate Professor, GMU, Antonin Scalia Law School. Interests include the right of self-defense, gun control, and the Second Amendment," Leider has written extensively on the subject of Constitutional rights, and, in particular, gun rights. One of his recent scholarly works includes a 56-page paper on "The Individual Right To Bear Arms For Common Defense," preceded by a 48-pager on "The General Right to Bear Arms," and 23 pages on "Constitutional Liquidation, Surety Laws, and the Right to Bear Arms."

 

Leider has also provided analysis on important gun rights cases for the Federalist Society and The Volokh Conspiracy, among others. 

Perhaps most importantly, last December, he weighed in at The Reload on why gun rights advocates may stand to benefit more from an extensively reformed ATF rather than see the Bureau scrapped. This could show the Trump administration's hand on what may be in store for the country's gun regulatory agency.

...

Kostas Moros, a California-based 2A attorney who has clocked in on several cases seeking to overturn the state's onerous gun restrictions, seemed particularly excited, saying, "LETS F**KING GOOOOOO."

 

Amy Swearer, a gun rights expert at The Heritage Foundation who has often testified in front of Congress on the subject, welcomed the news about Leider, saying, "You truly do not understand how huge of a step forward this is for the Second Amendment. This man slaps. And you should get hyped."

 

Washington Gun Law president, attorney William Kirk, called the move "A huge and very positive development in the world of ATF."

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