What to know about Robert Cekada,
Trump's pick for next ATF director
By F Riehl. Nov 24, 2025
Data Source
President Donald Trump has officially named veteran ATF official Robert Cekada as his nominee to serve as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The move marks another major shift inside the agency after Trump's return to the White House and the rapid unwinding of several Biden-era gun policies.
Cekada's nomination was formally sent to the Senate on Nov. 18 and referred to the Judiciary Committee for consideration. According to the congressional record, Trump nominated him "to be Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, vice Steven M. Dettelbach, resigned."
A familiar face inside the ATF — but not a typical Trump outsider
Unlike some of Trump's recent department picks, Cekada is not an outsider. He's spent 20 years inside ATF, rising through the ranks after serving in the NYPD and the Plantation, Florida, Police Department, including time in anti-gang units and SWAT.
He began his ATF career in Hyattsville, Maryland, working on the Regional Area Gang Enforcement Task Force before moving to Tampa and later headquarters. Over the past decade, he has climbed through ATF's most important command positions, eventually becoming executive assistant director of operations and then deputy director — the agency's number two position.
His background stands in sharp contrast to controversial figures like David Chipman, the former gun-control advocate President Biden tried and failed to install as ATF director. Cekada is viewed by many in the gun world as a career law-enforcement professional, not a political activist.
Strong backing from the firearms industry
Cekada's selection has already earned high praise from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade group representing firearm manufacturers, retailers, and ranges. The NSSF's senior vice president and general counsel, Lawrence G. Keane, said in April that "Deputy Director Cekada has the experience, wisdom and respect of his colleagues to effectively lead the men and women of the ATF."
Keane also emphasized that Cekada "respects the Second Amendment and understands that the firearm industry is not the 'enemy' but a valuable partner" in fighting violent crime. Keane noted that retailers are "on the front lines" of stopping illegal straw purchases and that Cekada has a long history of working directly with industry professionals to keep legal gun owners in compliance with the law.
Cekada has also been deeply involved in long-running partnership programs with NSSF, including Don't Lie for the Other Guy, which warns the public about the penalties for straw purchasing, and Operation Secure Store, which helps retailers reduce theft and burglary.
"In his role as Deputy Director, we have worked closely with Robert Cekada to ensure law-abiding gun owners have a seat at the table in shaping policy," said Knox Williams, president and executive director of the American Suppressor Association.
"If confirmed, he would be the first ever truly pro-Second Amendment nominee to head the agency. By nominating an ATF Director who understands our community and respects our constitutional rights, President Trump and his administration are further underscoring their commitment to standing up for the Second Amendment and gun owners. We urge the Senate to confirm him without delay."
Undoing the Biden-era ATF
Cekada's rise comes at a moment of massive change inside the ATF. After Biden's director, Steve Dettelbach, resigned ahead of removal, the agency went through multiple acting leaders — first FBI Director Kash Patel and then Army Secretary Dan Driscoll — before Cekada took over operations as deputy director.
Sources familiar with internal ATF operations told The Reload that Cekada played a major role in ending the ATF's controversial "zero tolerance" policy. That Biden policy aggressively revoked FFLs over minor clerical mistakes — something that had never been considered criminal or willful behavior. According to ATF fact sheets, 2023 saw 157 revoked licenses. In 2024, that number grew to 195, with more than 1,480 FFLs choosing to surrender their license entirely rather than fight ATF's near-automatic revocation process.
NSSF described those years as "devastating" to lawful dealers, noting that ATF inspectors began treating basic paperwork errors like missing dates or transposed serial numbers as cause for shutting down entire small businesses.
With Trump back in office, the Department of Justice confirmed that the pistol-brace ban will not be appealed after a court struck it down for violating the Administrative Procedure Act. ATF is expected to also roll back Biden's "engaged in the business" rule that treated ordinary private sellers as unlicensed gun dealers.
At the same time, Cekada has been working alongside ATF's newly appointed chief counsel Robert Leider, a former George Mason University constitutional scholar known for Second Amendment expertise. The two have been rewriting internal rules and reversing multiple Biden-era interpretations — progress slowed only briefly by the fall 2025 government shutdown.
Pressure from Congress and the shutdown fallout
Cekada enters this confirmation fight just weeks after the ATF faced intense pressure from House Republicans during the government shutdown. Because Senate Democrats blocked a funding bill, the shutdown furloughed the entire NFA Division, effectively freezing the approval of suppressors, SBRs, and other NFA-regulated firearms.
A coalition of 26 House Republicans blasted ATF leadership in a letter, arguing that halting NFA processing "unconstitutionally infringes" on Americans' rights.
The pressure worked. According to reporting from AmmoLand News, the ATF recalled all NFA examiners and expected to clear the backlog within seven to 10 days.
Senate Democrats expected to fight the nomination
While Republicans are likely to support Cekada, especially with NSSF's endorsement, Senate Democrats may attack him for helping dismantle Biden's regulatory agenda. They may also raise past ATF controversies, including the case of Patrick "Tate" Adamiak — a Virginia man sentenced over possession of historical military items that experts argued were not actually illegal.
Democrats may try to frame the rollback of Biden's rules as a step backward. But supporters argue that returning ATF to a traditional law-enforcement role — and ending the political targeting of gun dealers — is exactly what Congress intended.
A new direction for a once-weaponized agency
Cekada isn't a flashy political pick. He's not a gun-control activist. He's a career cop who spent decades chasing violent criminals, not gun-store clerks who forgot to fill in a date box.
For many gun owners, that's the whole point.
He steps into the spotlight at a time when the ATF desperately needs rebuilding. The damage done by the zero-tolerance era — hundreds of revoked licenses, thousands more surrendered, and a gun industry treated as an enemy — left deep distrust.
With Trump reversing Biden's rules and installing leadership that understands both law enforcement and constitutional rights, the pro-gun community sees a rare opportunity for real reform. As The Reload put it, Cekada "has already demonstrated a willingness to be a change agent at the ATF."
The Senate Judiciary Committee will now decide whether he gets the chance to finish what he started.
Republished with permission from AmmoLand.
