BATFE Chief Counsel Fired; Replaced With Attorney Who Respects 2A

BATFE Chief Counsel Pamela Hicks was fired yesterday. Hicks oversaw and
endorsed the enforcement of every infringement on the 2nd Amendment committed
by the Biden Administration since taking the position in 2021.

She will be replaced by Rob Leider whose appointment is a sharp change of
course from that of Pamela Hicks. Hicks's views on guns were in line with
groups like Everytown and Brady. Mr. Leider takes a more liberty-based
approach to guns.

Mr. Leider was an assistant professor at George Mason University, Antonin
Scalia Law School, where he taught a class on the 2nd Amendment. Before
becoming a professor, he worked for law firm Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer,
LLP. He also clerked for Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas.

Mr. Leider has penned articles that advocate the stripping of qualified
immunity from those state officers who resist the Supreme Court's Bruen
ruling. If qualified immunity was removed from these state officers, it could
open people like New York State Governor Kathy Hochul to legal action. Many
states and municipalities have passed laws and enacted policies inconsistent
with Bruen since SCOTUS ruled on the case.

     "In former may-issue states, gun owners still face substantial
     legal risks when exercising their rights, but the legal risk may
     not only be on private citizens. Despite strengthening qualified
     immunity in recent years, the Supreme Court has not shielded
     government agents who willfully seek to violate the Constitution.
     New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and California may find that,
     in bringing down the heavy hand of the State against individuals
     who exercise their 2nd Amendment rights, their own police
     officers and politicians will get hit by the blow."

Now that's what I like to hear.