Authors: Perry Stein
The Trump administration has removed a memorial honoring victims of gun violence from the main atrium of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, taking down about 120 portraits hung during the Biden administration.
Justice Department spokesman Chad Gilmartin said that the decision to remove the portraits was not political and that officials are considering different ways to honor victims.
“The ATF will continue to honor the memory of all victims of violent crime while at the same time preserving the rights of law-abiding Americans,” Gilmartin said, referring to the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
Former ATF director Steven Dettelbach – who was appointed by President Joe Biden – created the memorial at the agency’s Northeast Washington headquarters last April to remind employees of the human toll of gun violence. The display includes photos of police officers killed by gunfire, children slain in mass school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, and Parkland, Florida, and other victims.
A nearby kiosk told the stories of each, and many of the victims’ families would visit the memorial.
“The ‘Faces of Gun Violence’ exhibit is a permanent reminder of what ATF comes to work to do every day – a reminder of why agents risk their lives and why everyone at ATF dedicates their careers to this mission: to honor the fallen and protect the living,” Dettelbech said at a ceremony unveiling the memorial last year. “This exhibit both honors and tells the stories of the victims of firearms violence. And it reminds us to keep front and center the lives, the stories, and the courage of those who have been impacted by firearms violence.”
When the memorial was being planned, some officials within ATF disagreed with placing it prominently in the atrium of the building, according to one person familiar with the internal deliberations, who, like some others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic.
Those people thought the photos could be traumatizing forATF officials who had previously responded to deadly crime scenes and would have to pass by the memorial regularly, this person said.
Gilmartin said the agency, which is part of the Justice Department and is responsible for regulating and tracking guns, wants to find a different way to honor the victims.
A page on the ATF website announcing the opening of the memorial has been taken down. Memorial exhibits to ATF officers killed on duty still exist on the ground floor of the building.
Political controversy has long engulfed ATF, reflecting the divide between Republicans and Democrats on how to address gun violence in the country. While most of agency budget goes toward tracing guns and investigating violent crimes, ATF is also responsible for regulating the sale and licensing of firearms based on laws passed by Congress.
President Donald Trump and his Republican allies say that there should be fewer gun restrictions and that Democrats have used ATF to tighten gun laws. Democrats have pushed for stricter gun laws but have struggled to pass those proposals in Congress. They say ATF has acted within its authority to interpret and implement federal gun laws.
There is vastly more gun violence in the United States than in other economically prosperous countries and far fewer restrictions on gun ownership.
Trump has strongly opposed most gun restrictions. His attorney general, Pam Bondi, has started rolling back Biden-era gun policies, rescinding an ATF rule that yanked licenses from federally licensed firearm dealers if they intentionally falsified records or sold weapons without running a background check.
Brenda Haymon Joiner, a gun-control advocate whose slain father’s portrait was included in the memorial, said she saw its dismantling as a sign of the new administration’s priorities.
“I think of him daily,” Haymon Joiner, who works at the advocacy group Brady United, said of her father, Robert Godwin. “And I was proud to know that his photo at the ATF was a reminder to the agency of who they’re fighting for. Now, for all I know, his photo is sitting at the bottom of a trash can. The ATF used to be an agency dedicated to fighting for people. Now, it’s crystal clear that its mandate has become fighting on behalf of gun industry profits.”
The portraits were removed at a time of uncertainty for ATF. Trump has not nominated a permanent director for the agency. He tapped FBI Director Kash Patel to serve as interim director as he also led the FBI, but Patel was soon replaced by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll.
Some Republicans in Congress have called for abolishing ATF altogether, and the Trump administration has proposed merging it with the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The White House wants to slash the agency’s approximately $1.5 billion annual budget by about a third, or nearly $500 million, according to budget documents released Friday. The proposal appears to cut much of the regulatory arm of ATF while saying it would leave resources for gun tracing and investigating gun traffickers. But more modest cuts in the past have forced cuts to ATF law enforcement, and if the agency loses a third of its budget, it would probably lead to law enforcement reductions.
“The Budget bolsters the Second Amendment by cutting funding for ATF offices that have criminalized law-abiding gun ownership through regulatory fiat,” the budget proposal reads. “The previous administration used the ATF to attack gun-owning Americans and undermine the Second Amendment by requiring near universal background checks; subjecting otherwise lawful gun owners to up to 10 years in prison for failing to register pistol braces that make it possible for disabled veterans to use firearms; the imposition of excessive restrictions on homemade firearms; and the revocation of Federal Firearms Licenses. ”
