ATF chief warns that agency cuts could result in dire consequences

Washington — With just days remaining in the Biden administration, not all of the president’s appointees are departing quietly. Steven Dettelbach, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, is warning that the incoming administration has the agency in its sights.

Dettelbach’s agency helped identify Thomas Crooks — the gunman in the July assassination attempt on President-elect Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania — by tracing the assault rifle which Crooks fired. 

“In the assassination attempt on President Trump, ATF identified the shooter in that case in under 30 minutes,” Dettelbach said. 

He says the ATF is navigating a wave of gun dangers, including ghost guns, one of which was used in the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO in New York City last month.

“They’re very pervasive because they appeal to people who can’t get guns legally,” Dettelbach said.

These small parts, some created on 3D printers, can turn traditional guns into automatic weapons.

Dettelbach, who expects to leave his post when Trump is inaugurated, warns that the ATF is a prime target for major reductions.

Trump has blasted Dettelbach by name.
 
“On day one, we will sack the radical gun grabber Steve Dettelbach,” Trump told members of the National Rifle Association at a gathering last February.

Dettelbach says the funding cuts are nearly certain despite new reductions in the U.S. crime rate.

But congressional Republicans already proposed $188 million in cutbacks to the agency this year, alleging the ATF overreaches and places too many restrictions, including on pistol braces.

Dettelbach believes that if the ATF were eliminated, “people would be killed.”

One major part of the ATF’s job is to help local law enforcement agencies track down shooters and solve cases, such as assisting with the investigation into a mass shooting at Morgan State University in Baltimore last year.

“A lot of things that you don’t realize that they’re involved in, with local law enforcement, they play a big part in,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley told CBS News of the ATF.

Just days ago, ATF agents were among the first on the scene helping track the weapons and explosives used in the New Orleans truck attack which killed 14 people, and the Tesla Cybertruck bombing in Las Vegas.

Dettelbach says that no matter who is in charge, he hopes the ATF’s work will remain the focus.
 
“I believe that the mission of this agency, which is fighting violent crime, is wildly nonpartisan and bipartisan.”

— Robert Legare, Andres Triay and Julia Kimani-Burnham contributed to this report. 

Andres Triay and

Robert Legare

contributed to this report.