The ATF Director and His Mysterious 75-Round Clip

It seems Joe Biden’s second selection to guide the ATF, Steve Dettelbach, wasn’t mendacity when he advised his Senate affirmation committee that he wasn’t a firearms knowledgeable.

Dettelbach appeared Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation, accompanied by Agent Chris, whom the ATF Director described as one among his “main consultants.” From a public relations perspective, neither man did their company any good. From a civil rights perspective, the interview was extraordinarily worrisome.

As somebody who instructions armed brokers and a take-no-prisoners SWAT staff, Dettelbach demonstrated zero command presence. He got here throughout as a typical up-tight bureaucrat who possible irons his PJs earlier than he goes to mattress. Relatively than a high cop, he appears like the kind of man you’d anticipate Golden Corral to ship to your desk after you complained a couple of roach within the coleslaw.

Dettelbach appeared very nervous, though this was a pleasant show-and-tell interview and never a hostile interrogation. He gestured always together with his rat-like palms and even began repeating himself, rather a lot. In the course of the 21-minute interview, Dettelbach used the phrase proper a complete of 37 occasions. The truth is, my good pal Mark Walters, host of Armed American Radio, turned Dettelbach’s nervous tic right into a consuming sport, jokingly telling his listeners they need to take a drink each time the ATF Chief uttered the phrase, proper?

“75-round clip” –@ATFHQ Director Steve Dettelbach pic.twitter.com/LjNqzAnps2

— NRA (@NRA) March 4, 2024

Agent Chris wasn’t a lot better. He struggled mightily simply to take away the slide from a Glock – from a number of Glocks, truly. It’s not as if his boss handed him an 8mm Nambu, a Luger or a Broomhandle. You’d assume ATF’s main knowledgeable may take away the slide from the nation’s main pistol.

CBS host Margaret Brennan was fairly fairly involved for her security when she noticed the desk coated in weapons that Dettelbach and his main knowledgeable had assembled.

“They’re not loaded?” she requested.

“They’re not loaded,” Agent Chris assured her. “We checked all of them earlier than you got here.”

“Okay,” Brennan stated nervously. In my humble opinion, she ought to have demanded some plates.

Dettelbach defined that the weapons had been grouped in pairs. One of many firearms was an NFA weapon; its associate, he stated, was an “try and get round NFA that ATF has been coping with by rulemaking and enforcement.”

Agent Chris pointed to a select-fire AK, which was paired with a semi-auto AK outfitted with a bump-stock.

“These two issues are the identical. They function the identical. Each of them can shoot proper by this 75-round clip,” Dettelbach advised Brennan, whereas holding up a 75-round drum journal, which Agent Chris had described simply seconds earlier as a 75-round drum journal. Somebody ought to clarify to the nice Director the distinction between a clip and {a magazine}, and that there’s a world of distinction between a select-fire AK and one with a bump-stock.

Subsequent, Dettelbach confirmed off a 9mm SBR and an identical weapon outfitted with a pistol brace.

“The 2 weapons are designed to be fired from the shoulder, identically,” he stated. “So, we’re treating them the identical. That’s all that rule says.”

Dettelbach by no means talked about that the producers of the pistol brace, which was initially designed for disabled veterans, acquired dedication letters from his ATF that stated the brace was not topic to NFA. He by no means advised Brennan that if 40 million pistol braces had been out of the blue categorized as Quick Barrel Rifles by ATF, their homeowners may have confronted federal felonies in the event that they didn’t instantly register their weapons as SBRs. He by no means disclosed how ATF’s zeal to write down and implement its personal legal guidelines started in earnest below the Biden-Harris administration or how the ATF – below his management – is getting its butt kicked in courtroom consequently.

The 2 feds confirmed 3D printed auto sears for the AR and a Glock change, which converts a semi-automatic Glock to full-automatic. They talked about how straightforward the sears had been to print however by no means talked about they’re additionally extremely regulated and unlawful to own below most circumstances.

Selecting up one of many ARs, Agent Chris stated, “This can be a privately made firearm,” which his boss shortly corrected. “That’s additionally a ‘ghost gun,’” Dettelbach stated.

After turning their consideration to a privately made Glock clone, which had a change added to the slide, Dettelbach stated, “When you could have a change, when you could have one among these firearms that’s transformed to being totally automated, that’s not a shoulder firearm, proper, that’s a pistol like this, proper, I’ve seen these fellows hearth them on the vary. There’s an enormous kick-up. You see folks inadvertently shoot up the ceiling on the vary, proper.”

Kick-up?

All through your entire interview, there was an M249 SAW with a para inventory sitting on the desk, perched on its bipod. It was by no means talked about. If I needed to guess, I’d say it was included as a result of it appears deadly and, to the uninitiated, scary. The SAW may have been a metaphor for this complete dog-and-pony present. Clearly, it was Dettelbach’s intent to scare viewers – to misinform them of the hazards bump-stocks, pistol braces, and “ghost weapons” pose. Fortunately, his message missed the mark. All he completed was reinforcing what’s changing into a steadily requested query: Do we actually want the ATF?

Proper?

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About Lee Williams

Lee Williams, who’s often known as “The Gun Author,” is the chief editor of the Second Modification Basis’s Investigative Journalism Venture. Till lately, he was additionally an editor for a day by day newspaper in Florida. Earlier than changing into an editor, Lee was an investigative reporter at newspapers in three states and a U.S. Territory. Earlier than changing into a journalist, he labored as a police officer. Earlier than changing into a cop, Lee served within the Military. He’s earned greater than a dozen nationwide journalism awards as a reporter, and three medals of valor as a cop. Lee is an avid tactical shooter.