ATF Director Mocked for Displaying Lack of Firearms Knowledge
In a recent interview on CBS News’ Face the Nation, ATF Director Steven Dettelbach further proved his apparent lack of knowledge about firearms, raising concerns among gun owners and enthusiasts alike.
During the interview, Dettelbach stood alongside CBS’ Margaret Brennan in front of a table displaying various firearms, yet he struggled to accurately name and describe the components of the guns before him. He also said that certain gun components are used as “loopholes” in gun laws, such as bump stocks and pistol braces.
Throughout the segment, Dettelbach made several obvious errors, including referring to a drum magazine as a “75-round clip” and equating a pistol brace with a shoulder stock, also known as a buttstock. Meanwhile, ATF division chief Chris Bort, who was also present during the interview, is now being mocked on social media for his inability to demonstrate swapping frames on pistols.
Dettelbach went on to express his belief that the ATF, a 5,000-person agency, is “way, way, way too small.” Moreover, Dettelbach appeared to lament the fact that the federal government does not have a national gun registry for firearm ownership. He suggested that the agency is hindered by congressional restrictions and the absence of a comprehensive database, resulting in the ATF having to rely on scarce records to trace firearms.
“That means that we have to work within that system. That means that we have more people there pouring through records,” Dettelbach told Margaret Brennan. “For what we call a normal trace, right now we’re running at about an eight-day lag.”
“The way it doesn’t happen is we punch in a person’s name, and up comes, ‘Oh, they own so many guns,’” Dettelbach said. “Congress has prohibited us from doing that.”
This is not the first time Dettelbach has faced criticism for his lack of firearms knowledge. In a previous congressional hearing, he was unable to provide a clear definition of an “assault rifle,” admitting that he is “not a firearms expert.”
Time and time again, federally-appointed officials tasked with overseeing gun regulation in the United States prove that they have a substantial lack of knowledge when it comes to how firearms work. However, this ignorance does not deter them from attempting to take guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens who simply want to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
