By Lee Williams
SAF Investigative Journalism Project
Based upon her writing skills, it would probably take former ATF official Marianna Mitchem 15 or 20 minutes just to tell someone that they’re on fire.
Mitchem really likes her words, and it shows, according to a long, wordy story she recently co-wrote for her new employer, Everytown for Gun Safety.
Mitchem joined Everytown in August after leaving the ATF. One former ATF official said she reached out to her former colleagues after leaving, trying to target Glock and Glock-type handguns, but more about her bio in a bit.
Her story, “The Supply Side of Violence: How Gun Dealers Fuel Firearm Trafficking,” like much of Everytown’s anti-gun propaganda, targets gun dealers as if they’re solely responsible for crime.
Mitchem’s coauthors, Nick Suplina and Chelsea Parsons, both worked for the New York State Attorney General’s Office and are longtime Everytown staffers. As you can imagine, the three authors worked hard to target President Donald Trump and his administration for its pro-gun stance.
The ATF under President Joe Biden, the authors claimed, “used crime gun intelligence to shut down known trafficking networks and identify the worst-of-the-worst dealers.”
But at no point did Mitchem or her team ever mention the harm and loss of life the ATF committed under Biden, such as the killing of Bryan Malinowski, or the false charges filed against Patrick “Tate” Adamiak, which led to his undeserved 20-year prison sentence that he is still serving.
Instead, the authors claimed that targeting gun dealers will “protect our communities from gun trafficking.”
“States can step into the void created by federal abdication and enact policies and enforcement plans that can prevent trafficking from occurring and hold all culpable actors to account when it does,” the authors claimed.
According to their story, here is how the authors plan to fill this so-called federal “void.” I should point out that the plan was taken right from their report.
- Require gun dealers to obtain a state license in addition to the license required by federal law, and prohibit issuance of a license to a person who is prohibited from having guns under federal or state law or who has a recent firearm conviction, who has previously had a gun dealer license revoked (absent extenuating circumstances), or where the issuance of the license would be a danger to public safety.
- Require gun dealers to implement security measures to prevent theft, including physically securing guns on the business premises, utilizing alarm and video surveillance systems, and installing security measures designed to prevent unauthorized entry on all exterior doors and windows.
- Mandate annual background checks and training—including how to identify straw purchasers and other indicators of trafficking—for gun dealers and their employees.
- Authorize a state agency or local law enforcement to conduct regular compliance inspections of gun dealers, prioritizing inspections of newly licensed dealers and those with the highest percentage of crime gun traces with a short TTC.
- Require gun dealers to send records of all gun sales to state officials for retention; provide authorities with ongoing electronic access to records of firearm acquisition, disposition, and inventory; and notify state authorities of all trace requests received from ATF.
- Authorize disciplinary action against gun dealers who violate the law, including mandatory suspension of the state license for a dealer who is charged with a disqualifying crime and mandatory revocation of the license in specified circumstances, including failing to conduct a required background check, refusing to allow authorities to conduct an inspection, knowingly or negligently transferring a firearm to a prohibited person, failing to respond to a trace request, or falsifying records.
- Require gun dealers to provide information to gun buyers at the point of sale about secure storage, suicide prevention, and the risks associated with firearm ownership.
- Establish a minimal threshold for responsible business conduct by gun dealers and allow for civil liability if their firearms cause harm.
- Require authorities to prepare an annual report that includes information on dealer applications, inspections, and disciplinary actions, as well as an analysis of crime gun trace data showing patterns and trends relating to crime guns and trafficking.
These so-called “requirements” are, quite frankly, a joke. They would put nearly every gun dealer out of business, a fact which I am sure was not lost on the authors.
Besides, gun dealers are licensed by the federal government. They do not need a state license, or state and local inspections, and they should never be required to provide state or local officials with the names of gun purchasers.
Also, establishing a “minimal threshold for responsible business conduct by gun dealers” to allow the dealers to be civilly sued if their firearms are ever misused, is ludicrous. This, too, would put the dealers out of business, which, again, is exactly what the authors want.
Mitchem’s anti-gun history
Mitchem began her 20-year ATF career in 2005 as an IOI, an Industry Operations Investigator, who inspect gun shops to make sure their records and inventory are documented correctly. She worked unarmed and was never an ATF Special Agent, who are armed and charged with enforcing federal law.
She was promoted to field supervisor in 2011, and by 2014, was put in charge of Industry Operations for ATF’s Phoenix Field Division.
She moved to Washington D.C. in 2017, when she became ATF’s deputy chief of Field Management Staff. One year later, she was promoted to chief.
In 2019, Mitchem became ATF’s deputy chief of staff, and reported to ATF’s director. One year later, she became the chief of the Firearms and Explosives Industry Division.
Mitchem held her final position as Associate Assistant Director of Field Operations (Industry Operations), from March 2024 until she left in May 2025.
She has been described as smart and a good communicator, but very anti-gun.
Things changed for Mitchem when former President Joe Biden appointed Steve Dettelbach to run ATF. Mitchem was given more duties and responsibilities.
The former ATF official described her as “Dettelbach’s puppet.” She was his “superstar,” and was responsible for ATF’s frame or receiver ruling and for going after “ghost guns,” which became somewhat problematic.
If law enforcement officers could not find a firearm’s serial number, the firearm was still added to the “ghost gun” list, because the ATF never checked or verified any of the firearms added to the list.
This caused ATF and other agencies to question the validity of its own database, which Mitchem was responsible for creating. However, the Biden Administration used the list strongly to promote its anti-gun efforts.
Takeaways
Multiple efforts to contact Mitchem were not successful.
It’s interesting to note that the LinkedIn pages of her coauthors, Nick Suplina and Chelsea Parsons, strongly point out their employment with Everytown. Suplina describes himself as “Senior Vice President for Law & Policy at Everytown for Gun Safety,” and Parsons describes herself as Everytown’s “Senior Director of Implementation.”
However, Mitchem’s LinkedIn page contains no mention of Everytown. She describes herself only as a “Former ATF Associate Assistant Director.”
Perhaps her new employment with Everytown was a bit too much, even for her.
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