Bradley Buckles, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), is retiring after 30 years of service, the final years of which the agency was transferred from the Treasury to the Justice Department.

“I am extremely proud to have served many years in the US Department of the Treasury and now, as a result of the Home Security Act, the Justice Department,” said Buckles in announcing his retirement to the 4,800 employees of the ATF. “Now that ATF is successfully integrated into the Justice family my job is complete.”

There has been no announcement of a successor, but some observers speculate that the new director will be someone satisfactory to the White House and Attorney General John Ashcroft. That prospect seems to enrage the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and its client “Million” Mom March which put out a joint press release claiming Buckles was fleeing the agency because his agency has been under “almost relentless attack by both the Bush Administration and the Congress for three years . . . orchestrated by the extreme gun lobby.”