The U.S. Senate recently voted 48-46 to confirm President Joe Biden’s (D) nominee, Steve Dettelbach, to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
While the vote was largely along party lines, Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Rob Portman (Ohio) joined 46 Democrat senators to confirm Dettelbach. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), James Risch (R-Idaho), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) and Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) did not vote.
Dettelbach, like Biden’s previous nominee to fill the same position, David Chipman, is a proponent of many overly restrictive gun-control measures, and has a history of repeating anti-gun messaging; in fact, he was unable—or unwilling—to define what an “assault weapon” is during a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last month, despite supporting bans on such politically mislabeled firearms.
His nomination was also tellingly supported by a plethora of gun-control groups, including the Michael Bloomberg-funded Everytown and the Brady Campaign, to name a few.
“Dettelbach is a dedicated gun controller with a background that proves he would be neither fair nor objective as head of ATF. When running for Ohio Attorney General in 2018, Dettelbach endorsed gun bans, restrictions on lawful firearm transfers and further expansion of prohibitions on who can lawfully possess a firearm. In short, it’s unclear what gun control measures Dettelbach doesn’t support,” wrote the NRA Institute for Legislative Action of Dettelbach’s nomination.
The nomination, and subsequent confirmation, of Steve Dettelbach demonstrates in no uncertain terms that the current administration is openly hostile towards your Second Amendment rights. Despite this troubling news, the NRA will continue to work in Congress and in states throughout the nation to safeguard your constitutional rights.
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