By Lee Williams
SAF Investigative Journalism Project
Special to Liberty Park Press
Marianna Mitchem, ATF’s former Associate Assistant Director of Field Operations (Industry Operations), is now working for former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun group, Everytown for Gun Safety, according to a former ATF senior official who did not want their name used in this story.
Mitchem has turned on the ATF since joining Everytown, the former official said. She is reaching out to her former colleagues, trying to target Glock and Glock-type handguns.
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.
Mitchem 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.
Anti-gun history
The former ATF senior official who worked with Mitchem said she was smart, a good communicator but very anti-gun.
Things changed for Mitchem when former President Joe Biden appointed Steve Dettelbach to run ATF, the former official said. Mitchem was given more duties and responsibilities.
The former 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.”
The actions Mitchem took regarding these un-serialized firearms were wrong, the former ATF official said. The agency included pre-1968 firearms on its “ghost gun” list, even though firearms manufactured prior to 1968 were not required to have serial numbers. Homemade firearms, which do not require serial numbers in free states, were also added to the list.
In addition, if law enforcement officers could not find a 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
Attempts to contact Mitchem were not successful. Her cell phone has been disconnected and changed. Voice messages, emails and texts left with Everytown were not returned.
The former senior official who spoke out against Mitchem said now that she’s gone, there is only one anti-gun senior official left at the ATF.
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