Written by Aidan Johnston for Gun Owners of America – April 5, 2022
According to POLITICO, Biden is planning to nominate Steve Dettelbach, ANOTHER anti-gunner, to be Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
Biden’s First Anti-Gun Nominee
Together, gun owners were able to defeat David Chipman, Biden’s last ATF Director Nominee.
David Chipman’s scandalous history included:
- making millions of dollars lobbying against your constitutionally-protected rights for Michael Bloomberg and Gabby Giffords
- working with Chinese state media to create anti-gun propaganda and downplay a massacre in China
- and more!
But because of your activism and opposition, President Biden was forced to withdraw his nomination in September.
But now, recent reports indicate another gun grabber may be nominated to lead ATF “as early as this month.”
Biden’s New Prospective ATF Nominee
Reports indicate that “[d]eliberations are ongoing but Steve Dettelbach, a former federal attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, is seriously being considered by the White House for the post.”
But Dettlebach is not simply a “former federal attorney.”
In 2018, Dettlebach unsuccessfully ran for public office, promising a host of new gun control initiatives if elected, including:
- An Assault Weapons Ban
- Universal Background Registration Checks
- Gun confiscation for misdemeanor crimes
- Gun confiscation for those dealing with mental health issues
- “[C]losing” the made up “over the Internet” and fake “gun show loophole[s]”
- Disarming teachers and keeping schools as “soft targets”
In fact, Dettlebach used his position as a US Attorney to advocate for gun control for years, publishing op-eds such as Requiring universal background checks makes sense.
In fact, this US attorney heavily weighed in on the Manchin-Toomey gun control proposal in 2013, condemning “[t]he Senate’s failure… to pass the universal background check bill” as “disheartening.”
Key Question: Does Steve Dettelbach Support ATF’s Illegal Gun Registry?
In recent months, Gun Owners of America and Representative Michael Cloud uncovered that the ATF has been maintaining an illegal turn-key national gun registry with nearly a billion Firearm Transaction Records or Form 4473s in Martinsburg, West Virginia.
Indeed, federal law prohibits the centralization of ATF records, maintaining a registry of guns or gun owners, and keeping records which are searchable by name.
Interestingly, Steve Dettlebach acknowledged that this was illegal in a 2013 op-ed, stating:
“Some critics have argued that universal background checks will lead to a national gun registry. But establishing such a federal gun registry is and will remain illegal under the proposal. The existing background check system has been around for 14 years, and there’s no national registry of gun owners. Requiring a background check of gun buyers would not compromise the Second Amendment, which we respect” (emphasis added).
But as it turns out in 2005 and 2006, ATF illegally used congressional appropriations to begin converting out-of-business Firearm Transaction Records (Form 4473s) and Acquisition and Disposition Logs into a digital searchable database.
Dettlebach said that federal law prohibits the creation of a gun registry. What does he think should be done with the 920,664,765 records of guns, gun owners, and acquisition and disposition logs currently in ATF’s centralized database as of November 2021?
So, we know that Steve Dettlebach is a big-time gun control supporter.
And, support for infringements on our constitutionally-protected rights should disqualify anyone from and and every public office.
But, where does Dettlebach stand on maintaining ATF’s illegal national gun registry?
Will Steve Dettlebach enforce Biden’s proposed rule expanding ATF’s illegal gun registry?
Dettlebach must be held accountable for his opposition to the Bill of Rights should Biden formally nominate him in the coming weeks.
And ANYONE nominated to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives must commit to disbanding any gun or gun owner registry currently maintained by ATF.