Over at Red’s Trading Post. I don’t want anyone taking my previous post as meaning I’m giving up on reigning in ATF. I think that’s one of the most important battles to focus on right now. But reality is we’re unlikely to get reform from any Bush nominee at this point.
I’m in favor of seeking Congressional action to either abolish the ATF, or strip it of much of the power it’s been abusing. The former is probably not achievable, but I think the latter is.
I don’t want to discourage anyone from writing their senators and opposing the nomination. They should hear from you. You too can be a proud recipient of Senator Casey’s form letter!
I appreciate your post, Sullivan’s confirmation currently has a hold on it by one of the Senators. Even if Maximum Mike gets his confirmation then we need to continue to fight.
I was shocked when I got into this to find how many organizations were touting their relationship with the ATF (they have since distanced themselves from the agency). To me the ATF is the naughty child that you can not turn your back on. That you have to constantly monitor and scold them for their actions.
We, gun owners know the abuses they have committed and continue to commit but we need to continue to educate everyone else. After awhile our elected officials are going to get tired of the squeaky wheel and have to address the problem.
It’s no problem. I do think this is really important. There is work happening on this issue, which hopefully will further raise awareness of the problems in ATF. It would be great if we can get hearing out of Congress, and some movement on stripping ATF of some power it’s been abusing. I’ll be honest, I don’t think Sullivan’s confirmation can be stopped. Scuttling a nominee is the mount everest of politics; it’s really hard to do. The last nominee I can remember being outright defeated, due to anything other than just not being qualified, was Robert Bork.