(FreedomBeacon.com)- On Thursday, an official with the gun control organization Everytown for Gun Safety spoke at a congressional hearing and said he met with ATF Director Steven Dettelbach before the ATF’s regulation banning pistol braces.
Senior director of policy at Everytown, Rob Wilcox, was evasive when questioned by House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio. Seven months following the Senate confirmation of Dettelbach as ATF director, the agency issued its final regulation on pistol braces in January 2023.
Jordan said that before the notice of proposed rule-making, the committee was curious whether he or anybody in his organization spoke with the ATF or the Biden administration about the topics they’d been addressing today.
“We filed official applications for rule-making via the normal processes,” Wilcox said in response.
“Before the announcement of new regulations?” Jordan asked.
“That’s right,” confirmed Wilcox.
In 2012, ATF authorized the stabilizing brace attachment for pistols after concluding that it “would not affect the classification of a pistol or other weapon,” as stated by the device’s designer, Alex Bosco.
In January 2023, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives approved a regulation requiring pistols with braces’ registration since they are considered “short-barreled rifles.” Some parties from the outside are filing lawsuits because of the regulation.
“Was Mr. Dettelbach ever approached by anybody from Everytown to discuss this issue directly?” asked Jordan.
Wilcox sidestepped the question by saying, “Of course, we’ve been in touch with the ATF in this administration and former administrations.”
“Have you already spoken with the director?” Jordan asked.
Wilcox reaffirmed, “We engage with ATF throughout administrations.”
“Have you consulted with the head honchos?” Jordan reemphasized, “It’s a really basic question.”
“Yes, I have talked to the director,” Wilcox said.
Jordan drew parallels between Wilcox’s conversations with Dettelbach and those between NSBA representatives and White House staff before the NSBA’s submission of a letter to the Biden administration requesting the use of domestic terrorism statutes to combat threats of violence against public officials. The relationship between the NSBA and the Biden administration is under investigation by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
Jordan said it appears they have a similar operation going on, meaning that they worked with the ATF to modify something that had been the law for ten years to go after law-abiding Second Amendment-supporting Individuals.
