ATF Director Steps Down Following Days Of Rumors
B. Todd Jones, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, confirmed this morning that he is leaving that post, nine days after a leading national gun rights organization called on him to step down or be fired primarily because of the controversy over the agency’s recent proposal to ban a popular type of ammunition for modern sport-utility rifles.
Jones, who is departing March 31, was appointed director of the scandal-plagued agency in 2013. Last week, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms called for his resignation or dismissal in the wake of a major debacle over a proposal to ban the M855 cartridge by changing its classification to an “armor piercing” round because it can also be used in certain handguns.
The proposal caused an uproar, and the ATF was deluged with more than 80,000 comments, most of them opposing the proposed ban. The agency has temporarily withdrawn the idea, but has not officially scrapped it.
CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, who expressed clear disappointment in Jones’ performance, culminating in the “colossal blunder†of the proposed ammunition ban, told Examiner via telephone that he is not confident the departure will quickly change things at the embattled agency.
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