For Immediate Release: May 26, 2022
Contact: Ryan Hite, Communications Director
Don’t Trust Bureaucrats Who Use Words They Can’t Define
Washington, D.C.: “After President Biden’s last nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives went down in flames, one would think that the administration would have learned their lesson,” said Phyllis Schlafly Eagles president Ed Martin. “Yet, Steve Dettelbach is hardly an improvement from the last would-be gun-grabber-in-chief. Dettelbach ran for Ohio attorney general in 2018 on a promise to ban ‘assault weapons,’ yet he has no idea what the term means.”
Dettelbach’s confirmation hearing yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee featured a prominent exchange between the ATF nominee and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR). Sen. Cotton pointed out Dettelbach’s previous calls to ban assault weapons and asked for a simple definition of what is included in the term. Dettelbach had to admit, “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.”
Martin continued, “Dettelbach can’t define what an ‘assault weapon’ is because the phrase is a fabrication by anti-gun lobbyists. The only real definition is “any gun that looks big and scary to leftists,” but that won’t fly with the American people.
“Sen. Cotton was right to point out this key red flag in Biden’s latest nominee. As America grapples with how to respond to recent tragedies, we need voices of reason and clarity, not political hacks with vague language and an agenda.”
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