By Dave Workman
Editor-in-chief
Second Amendment advocates are applauding a decision to remove a Biden-era photo exhibit from the headquarters of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—titled ‘The Faces of Gun Violence”—while anti-gunners are condemning the move as heartless.
According to NPR, the exhibit included photos of 120 people “killed in gun violence.” The report noted a digital kiosk featured biographies of all those pictured, and it was also removed, along with an online version.
Hyperallergic is reporting the Justice Department—of which ATF is an agency—issued a statement in which it promised to “continue to honor the memory of all victims of violent crime while at the same time preserving the rights of law-abiding Americans.” The Hyperallergic story noted Fred Guttenberg, father of one of the 2018 Parkland, Fla., victims was furious.
Guttenberg, who has become a gun control advocate, declared on “X” that he is “so angry and upset about this. I was one of the people who worked with the ATF to create this memorial wall. Jaime, & some others from Parkland were on this memorial wall. Where is Jaime’s picture now? In the trash? If you are someone who voted for Trump, you voted for this. My ability to forgive you just got harder.”
But Fredy Riehl, editor-in-chief at Ammoland News, wrote Monday, “Critics of the exhibit, including some within the ATF, said the placement was less about honoring victims and more about pushing a one-sided narrative against civilian gun ownership. Some within the agency reportedly found it demoralizing to pass by the wall of trauma each day, especially those who had responded to violent crime scenes themselves. Others noted that the memorial used emotionally charged imagery to support a political agenda—one that routinely blames legal gun owners for acts committed by criminals.”
The Trump administration has sent strong signals that government policy towards restrictive gun control is changing course 180 degrees. Predictably, the gun prohibition lobby does not like it. Anti-gunners had free reign during the Joe Biden administration, thanks to the former president’s animosity toward gun owners.
Hyperallergic criticized Trump for “vigorously” defending the Second Amendment while allegedly downplaying “gun violence.”
But recently, Trump put a far different perspective on the criminal misuse of firearms when a reporter asked him last month about a double shooting at Florida State University.
“These things are terrible, but the gun doesn’t do the shooting — the people do,” Trump observed.
