by Madeleine Hubbard
Steve Dettelbach, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, would not define what an assault weapon is and said he is “not a firearms expert” despite saying he would support an assault weapons ban.
At a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing Tuesday on the ATF’s 2024 fiscal year budget, Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-Texas) asked Dettelbach: “In 15 seconds, would you define an ‘assault weapon’ for me?”
“I’ll go shorter than that, because honestly, if Congress wishes to take that up, I think Congress would have to do the work, but we would be there to provide technical assistance,” Dettelbach answered. “I, unlike you, am not a firearms expert to the same extent as you maybe, but we have people at ATF who can talk about velocity of firearms, what damage different kinds of firearms cause, so that whatever determination you chose to make would be an informed one.”
Despite not defining what an assault weapon was, Dettelbach has said he supports an assault weapons ban and called on Congress to pass one after the Christian school shooting earlier this month.
This is not the first time Dettelbach has avoided defining the term “assault weapon.”
During his confirmation hearing last year, Dettelbach acknowledged how when he ran for the position of Ohio attorney general in 2018 he discussed gun control without a definition.
“When I was a candidate for office, I did talk about restrictions on assault weapons. I did not define the term. And I haven’t gone through the process of defining that term,” he said, according to Fox News.
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Madeleine Hubbard is an international correspondent for Just the News. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.
What in the hell is going on in with the Biden administration? Who is at the helm? They appoint a Supreme Court Justice who doesn’t know how to define “woman”. They appointed an ATF director who is ignorant on firearms. They have a press secretary who is absolutely clueless. The Secretary of Transportation is ignorant on transportation and is largely responsible for some of the current supply problems. The larger problem in all this is these are appointed, not elected officials. Each, not so much the press secretary, wields unchecked power as they do not report to the American people. Like the EPA, each can hamstring the country, each can do significant harm devoid accountability. Then the director of Homeland Security….. In 18 months we vote and must throw Biden, Cackling Kamala and their cronies our of government.
WHY do we have an ATF AT ALL?
You can’t make this stuff up. Who else but the Biden administration would appoint an ATF director that blatantly declares his ignorance.
As if any of the republican appointees are anything but soldiers for the right wing politicians.
This is why these positions should NEVER be appointed but elected and required to have education and knowledge for the job. We have had morons as the Chair of the FCC for the last 3 presidents. ATF has been nothing but political agendas.
ATF Director is nothing but a soldier of the left-wing politicians!