Biden Picks ANOTHER Radical for ATF Director

Joe Biden, the 47th vice president of the United States, was the featured guest for the Tom Johnson Lectureship at the LBJ Presidential Library on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017. The conversation was moderated by Mark Updegrove, former director of the LBJ Library.

After Joe Biden’s last pick for ATF Director, David Chipman, was run out of the hearings on a rail, he has chosen another radical as his next nominee for the position. At America’s 1st Freedom, Charles C. W. Cooke explains why Biden’s new pick is just as bad as the first, writing:

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Sometimes, I wonder whether President Joe Biden (D) actually wants to hire a director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Sure, Biden says he does, but his behavior suggests otherwise. Last year, Biden watched his first pick for the office, gun-control activist David Chipman, go down in flames. This year, he’s nominated another candidate in the same vein, former U.S. Attorney Steve Dettelbach. There is little reason to believe that Dettelbach will fare better than Chipman, so, I’ll ask again: Does President Biden actually want to fill this role?

If he did want to, it presumably wouldn’t be too difficult. Democrats have 50 votes in the U.S. Senate, and there are probably enough Republican moderates to shepherd through a mainstream candidate. But Dettelbach isn’t a mainstream candidate. He’s a garden-variety gun-control advocate. The Senate’s response to this nomination should be the same as its response to the last one: “No.”

Introducing Dettelbach as his nominee, President Biden said of the ATF that “the mission of this agency isn’t controversial, it’s public safety.” But that’s not quite right. The mission of the ATF is to follow the law as Congress has written it, and to do nothing else besides. The ATF does not have a freestanding mandate to pursue “public safety” in whatever way that its director, or the president, might wish. It has a narrow mandate to faithfully execute the law.

In an ideal world, the personal political views of unelected executive-branch officials would not matter a great deal. But we do not live in an ideal world; we live in a world in which the executive branch routinely attempts to claim powers that it has not been given, and in which cynical lawyers spend their days searching for loopholes that they can use to get their own way. As a result, it matters a great deal that Steve Dettelbach wants to prohibit the most-commonly owned rifles in the United States; it matters a great deal that Steve Dettelbach wants to use the federal government to superintend all private firearms transfers—including between family members; and, yes, it matters a great deal that Steve Dettelbach wants to institute a set of “red-flag” regulations that make a mockery of the U.S. Constitution’s due-process protections, as well as of the Second Amendment. There are 330 million people in this country. It should not be too difficult to find one whose ideological bearings are aligned with the law.

Since he took office, Biden has given the American public no indication that he can be trusted with executive power. On the contrary, having been egged on by the most-extreme voices on his own side, President Biden has repeatedly taken actions that he knew were illegal and backed down only when forced to by the courts. The pattern has become depressingly familiar. First, Biden’s party demands a particular course of action. Next, Biden says that he can’t take that action because there is no congressional law that allows him to do so. And, finally, Biden announces that he’s going to do it anyway. There is no reason to think that this pattern will not at some point apply to the Second Amendment, and, as such, there is no reason for the Senate to confirm anyone to the ATF whose views are out of line with its own.

President Biden says that the ATF is an important agency, and that it needs a permanent chief if it is to do its job properly. If he believes that, he’ll nominate someone acceptable for the role. Until he does, the seat must stay vacant.

Action Line: Americans don’t want a radical Director at the ATF. They want someone who respects their rights, both at the ATF and the White House. Get your guns and your training now. Stick with me to Survive & Thrive.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.