U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) issued the following statement after voting against the nomination of Steve Dettelbach to be Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“Although we need strong and objective leaders at ATF to implement the common-sense reforms we included in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, I ultimately decided that Mr. Dettelbach was not the right person to lead this agency. He has a history of not fully articulating his understanding of gun rights. I am also concerned, based on his responses to questions before the Judiciary Committee, that he will not pushback on policy proposals from this Administration that would do nothing to address the increase in violent crime that we are seeing across this country,” Murkowski said. “I met with Mr. Dettelbach during his confirmation process, and we had a good conversation about firearms, gun violence, and gun trafficking. I heard from enough Alaskans with concerns about this nominee that I just could not support him.

The Senate confirmed Dettelbach on a final vote of 48-46.

Related Issues: Second Amendment

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