Gun Owners of America Defends Blocking ATF Director on Misleading, Political Grounds

On February 22, Gun Owners of America (GOA) president Larry Pratt appeared on America Live and presented a variety of misleading reasons for his opposition to Andrew Traver, President Obama's nominee to head up the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Pratt's objections during the segment were political in nature, wholly ignored Traver's distinguished record as a law enforcement officer and veered into far-flung accusations of criminal conspiracies by the ATF.

Asked about why he and other gun lobbyists have opposed the Traver nomination, Pratt first pounced on the opportunity to link the ATF to the case of border patrol agent Brian Terry, who was tragically killed in a firefight with five armed assailants in December. Questions recently surfaced about ATF awareness of the purchase of two of the weapons used in the attack against Terry and his fellow agents.

PRATT: But with the, know the looming crisis that the agency breaking about how they were, their agents were literally running guns into Mexico to jack up the numbers to make it look like they needed more money for their agency. [1:27]

Pratt and the GOA have been advancing the accusation that “the ATF is actually helping to move illegal guns across the border.” In fact, according to the Washington Post, the accused straw buyer linked to the Brian Terry shootings has been arrested by the ATF as have 33 others. The paper also reported that court records “do not indicate that the agents deliberately allowed weapons to cross the border into Mexico. On at least two occasions, agents stopped and seized arms shipments headed for the border.” The Department of Justice has responded to Congressional inquires regarding this allegation in a February 4th letter saying:

At the outset, the allegation described in your January 27 letter- that the ATF “sanctioned” or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them into Mexico- is false. ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico. [Emphasis added]

Pratt's accusation distracts from the role American-bought guns play in fueling cartel violence, and to discredit efforts by the ATF to clamp down on the southward flow of firearms. More then 65,000 guns recovered by Mexican law enforcement have been traced to the United States, so to suggest that American law enforcement -- and not Mexican cartels -- are behind this widespread trend is not only pure fantasy, but deeply dishonest. Finally, there have been zero reports that have linked Traver, who runs the Chicago area office of the ATF, to the Brian Terry case.

When pressed by host Megyn Kelly to actually discuss reasons he opposes Andrew Traver, instead of espousing conspiracy theories, Pratt continued to make unsubstantiated assertions and all but dismissed the relevance of Traver's record as a law enforcement officer.

PRATT: Well, if he wants to be the head of police agency where he has to get congressional confirmation he needs to get off his anti-gun kick. It's just totally unacceptable and we're not going to look at the rest of his record. If he thinks his job is to come after gun owners, legitimate guns owners in this country, then we're against him. And we just really don't care how many arrests he can tout, he will also be making arrests of gun owners who haven't done anything, because those are even easier arrests to make than going after real criminals. [2:50]

Pratt offered no explanation why he thinks that Traver would come after, “legitimate gun owners” as part of his “job.” Reached for comment on what actions Traver has taken against “legitimate gun owners,” Pratt told Media Matters he was referring to the Great Lakes Summit States Summit on Firearm Violence. Traver was a “Summit Advisor” but the summit did not advocate in any way targeting legitimate guns owners for arrest. Pratt did not respond with any examples of actions Traver took as a law enforcement officer to backup his assertion.

Pratt also seemed intent on exaggerating the influence of the ATF.

KELLY: How much power does he have? Because the Obama administration did not, uh, did not propose to reinstate the lapsed the assault weapons ban. So, can this guy do it as head of the ATF? [3:20]

PRATT: Sure, the ATF intervened with the State Department and got them to cancel permission to import 830,000, almost antique rifles now, M-1 carbines from Korea. That's a huge, that's probably the biggest gun ban in history. It was done all by regulation, by dictate from the FBI and BATF. [3:31]

In fact, Traver would have no authority to reinstate the assault weapons ban, as doing so would require Congressional action. While the State Department's decision to deny permission for the importation of the Korean War-era guns was regulatory in nature, the authority to do so was based in previous legislation and in no way beyond the legitimate authority of the State Department.

Even Kelly seemed to recognize the excessively political nature of Pratt's complaints as she unsuccessfully tried to get Pratt to address Traver's bipartisan support from Illinois' senators and his support from U.S. Attorney for Northern Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald, who called Traver's actions to combat gang violence “excellent.”

Since 2006 the position of ATF director has been held by temporary appointees as the Senate has failed to confirm both Traver and President Bush's proposed director Micheal Sullivan. The ATF is going on 5 years without a permanent director -- is it time to ask if anyone can be confirmed by the Senate?