U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID), writing a guest column for Gem State newspapers, says the Biden administration “is using all of its tools, including circumventing the legislative process, to go after law-abiding gun owners and firearms vendors.”
Crapo’s April 25 column focused on so-called “ghost guns” and Biden’s nomination of Steve Dettelbach to head the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He told readers “President Biden created a National Ghost Gun Enforcement Initiative focused on prosecuting criminals who use ghost guns in crimes. However, data concerning the use of ghost guns in crimes is limited, and reported numbers on confiscated guns are not limited to those used to commit crimes. The Administration should focus its resources on pursuing dangerous criminals, not scapegoating hobbyists.”
The senator’s remarks mirror comments in a February letter sent by Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley to Attorney General Merrick Garland, in which Grassley wrote, “Despite this continued rise in violent crime, the DOJ and the President have decided to focus time and taxpayer resources on policies that will not work, including addressing the so-called ‘Iron Pipeline,’ ghost guns, and lawful firearms dealers.”
A few lines later, Grassley stated, “The President’s focus on the ‘Iron Pipeline’ is a political effort to falsely suggest that conservative states with robust legal access to firearms somehow cause crime in Democrat-run cities. This is a distraction from the reality that the explosion of crime in blue cities is directly attributable to those same cities implementing de-policing, installing progressive prosecutors, and enacting disastrous bail reform policies.”
Grassley, the longest-serving Iowa senator in that state’s history, recently accused Democrats of refusing to take responsibility for the rise in violent crime, as reported by Ammoland News.
In his column, which appeared in the Idaho Press, noted that he is one of the original sponsors of S. 1920, known as the “ATF Accountability Act,” which would essentially protect gun manufacturers and lawful gun owners from what Crapo described as “unchecked bureaucratic ATF rulings.”
“I do not support more gun control,” Crapo wrote. “Burdening law-abiding citizens of this country with additional gun restrictions is not the answer to safeguarding the public. I continue to oppose all efforts to weaken Second Amendment rights.”
