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Earlier this month, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Director Steven Dettelbach spoke with Margaret Brennan on CBS. Let's face the nation To discuss gun violence and gun laws in the United States. In addition to interviews, director Dettelbach gave a hands-on demonstration by someone he described as one of ATF's „leading experts“ as he educated CBS viewers about the threat often referred to as „ghost guns.“
This corner is more about advocacy than education, with Ms. Brennan saying that guns are America's problem and that stricter gun laws and Second Amendment restrictions are the solutions this country needs. He acted as a participant in actively promoting the claim that Instead of presenting data, supported by legally sound arguments, about gun control laws and proposed changes to the Second Amendment, Secretary Dettelbach and his „experts“ insist that the federal government proved incompetent to manage.
In reality, it's debatable whether Coach Dettelbach is a firearms „expert,“ much less a firearms „expert.“
Do you want to shoot, brother?
Certainly intended to be a powerful depiction of the pure death and destruction that firearms can cause, director Dettelbach carefully selected and brought in a variety of guns to create scenes that were visibly distasteful and disgusting. I showed Ms. Brennan what an ATF looks like. Director Dettelbach brought in Chris Bolt, Director of Firearms and Ammunition Technology, to assist with this exhibit.
Bolt, who director Dettelbach once described as a „first-rate expert,'' was unable to disassemble a Glock slide and ultimately gave up on the camera. To be fair, Mr. Bolt was clearly uncomfortable with his assignment, as Mr. Brennan's formal approach to questions often required Director Dettelbach to respond.
Unfortunately, every time Director Dettelbach steps in to help an „expert“ avoid having to answer questions about political issues or firearms in general, his overall lack of knowledge on the subject has been exposed. At one point, director Dettelbach referred to the drum magazine as a „75-round clip.“
For those who don't own a gun, the magazine feeds the bullet into the firearm's chamber, and the clip holds the shell casing together. These are not replaceable parts and most certainly are not the same thing.
This is important. Because these definitions are mixed into gun control laws created and enforced by ignorant people.
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actual alarm bell
Discussing the difficulty ATF has in tracking and identifying individuals who commit gun crimes, the ATF director said gun dealers should either tip off to ATF or, as the director said, respond to certain „alarm bells.“ He suggested that the legal sale of firearms should be flatly refused based on the law. that.
One of these scenarios offered Coach Dettelbach said:
“…someone comes into your store in a border state and drops $12,000 in cash for one of these (.50 caliber rifles), so there’s no trace of a credit card, so my The words, we hope that people will help us as Americans, continue to help us, don't tout like that, keep us safe.“
Last I checked, cash was still a type of legal tender in this country. There are many possible reasons why a citizen might choose to pay in cash for any number of items. The main reason for paying cash is the fact that the government is uncomfortable paying with cash.
Dettelbach's next example was the tone-deaf claim that if a couple came into a gun store, the man asked all the questions, and the woman then bought a gun, „all kinds of alarm bells would go off.“ . As if the only plausible explanation is that the woman is being manipulated by a villainous man who wants to use the weapon himself for heinous reasons.
Perhaps the woman wanted to avoid the irritating machismo I might face when I went to buy a gun, as in my case, and my husband was trained He may have thought of asking me a question because he is an expert on firearms. Maybe not.
I'll tell you what should set off alarm bells. It's the fact that the ATF chiefs don't understand basic firearm nomenclature.
What are you saying?
In the interview, Dettelbach clumsily managed to sidestep Ms. Brennan's explicit call for a national gun owner registry. He makes sure to add that the lack of a central national gun registry makes the ATF's job more difficult. Says:
„The way that doesn't happen is that we type in a person's name and it goes, 'Oh, they own so many guns.' Congress doesn't allow us to do that. is prohibited.”
Correction: The Constitution prohibits the ATF from doing such a thing because the federal government is not given such authority in its founding statutes.
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Thank God for that. The level of naivety and ignorance on display is enough of an argument against giving these people more power over guns. Asked how he is working within the constraints of Congress to “strengthen” government agencies, Secretary Dettelbach said: explained:
“…We use something called crime gun intelligence, which is a fancy term, but basically, it's about tracking guns and being able to take crime guns. , a crime gun is one that is involved in a crime and squeezes all possible evidence and information out of what comes out of the gun, i.e. the bullet. The cartridge casing that is ejected from the rear of the gun. Serial numbers, etc. And the inside of the gun, the markings on the inside of the gun.”
I'm glad we were able to clarify that a crime gun is a gun that is involved in a crime, and that the „thing“ that comes out of a gun is called a bullet. ATF's behavior seems pretty standard. This is called evidence gathering.
This is not a fancy term, but a term of tried and true. While I'm all for legal gun ownership and defending the Second Amendment, it might be a good idea to keep Secretary Dettelbach and Mr. Bolt from touching any guns. I don't think it can be operated safely.
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