Face the Nation
Airs ATF Propaganda

Those worried that Biden's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was so busy harassing well-meaning gun dealers and owners that it had forgotten about its biennial tradition can rest easy. Last week, ATF Director Steven Dettelbach renewed the agency's time-honored practice of whining to regime media about the plight of the revenue man.

This time, Dettelbach sat down for a lengthy interview with CBS's Margaret Brennan for Face the Nation. Brennan was also treated to a dubious lesson in firearm operation and handling from Dettelbach and Chris Bort, the acting chief of ATF's Firearm and Ammunition Technology Division. Face the Nation made the full versions of these videos available on YouTube.

As always, a key complaint from ATF was how the agency's National Tracing Center is required to operate within the law.

The structure and explicit language of federal law act to prevent the creation of a federal firearms registry. Federal law requires those who purchase a firearm at a gun dealer to fill out a form 4473. This record of the firearm transfer is then stored by the Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL or gun dealer) on their premises. This creates a system whereby if a gun is found at a crime scene ATF can trace the firearm to the last retail purchase. However, since the records are stored with each FFL, the system is decentralized in a manner that protects against government abuse of gun owner data. .....