President-Elect Donald Trump hasn't made the conventional picks for his cabinet. Considering how Washington is, that's not a criticism of him, either. In fact, a lot of his picks are unconventionally awesome, and I'm looking forward to seeing how things go. Not getting to watch Matt Gaetz dismantle the ATF is a loss, but not everything is.

For example, Trump has nominated Kash Patel to head up the ATF, replacing Christopher Wray.

A former federal prosecutor and National Security Council official, Patel has the qualifications, to say the least. And with who he is as a person, at lot of people are loving that pick. That includes the Gun Owners of America.

Today, Gun Owners of America (GOA) applauded the nomination of Kash Patel for Director of the FBI. Mr. Patel, who was a speaker at GOA’s inaugural GOALS conference in Knoxville this past August, is fiercely pro-gun and a staunch advocate for the Second Amendment.

Erich Pratt, GOA’s Senior Vice President, issued the following statement:  

“We’re thrilled by the nomination of Kash Patel to head up the FBI. Over the course of the last four years, anti-gunners constantly weaponized the FBI against gun owners, and we’re confident that under his leadership, the reckoning is coming.” 

Tim Macy, the Chairman of Gun Owners of America, added: 

“Kash is a true constitutionalist who shares our commitment to the Second Amendment.” 

Pratt is, of course, right about how the FBI has acted. The truth is that no one should trust the bureau for anything. With Patel, we might actually see someone step in and start cleaning house, especially since he's someone who has been critical of the "Deep State" that actually does exist within the Washington bureaucracy.

More than that, we've seen the FBI intimidate people to forfeit their Second Amendment rights under the threat of prosecution, something that there's no reason to believe they can legally do. 

That alone means the FBI needs a good cleaning from top to bottom.

But it also signals yet again that we're not really going to see an administration hostile toward the right to keep and bear arms. Patel is very likely to be pro-Second Amendment and will do what he can to make sure the FBI respects those rights. 

He'll have his work cut out for him, though.

See, while there are a lot of agents who are interested in just putting bad guys in prison for a good, long time, there are also a number of agents who are more interested in playing political games. This is part of the Deep State that was talked about--and, if we're honest, derided by the media even as more evidence of its existence surfaced--and Patel is going to have to amputate it from the whole like a necrotic limb.

Patel heading up the FBI may not exactly be Matt Gaetz dismantling the ATF, but I think it's something we gun rights advocates can learn to live with. I doubt Trump's pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, will tear the ATF asunder, but maybe his pick to run the ATF will.

We can dream, at least.