ATF director asked to define an 'assault weapon' — but he makes telling admission instead

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Director Steve Dettelbach was asked a simple question on Tuesday about firearms, but admitted he could not provide an answer.

At a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Rep. Jake Ellzey (R-Texas) asked Dettelbach to define what constitutes an "assault weapon." Dettelbach himself has supported banning assault weapons, Ellzey noted, and the current position of the Biden administration is that assault weapons should be banned.

"In 15 seconds, would you define an 'assault weapon' for me?" Ellzey asked.

Shockingly, Dettelbach — who leads the government agency that is expert in all things firearms and explosives — admitted that he could not because he is not a "firearms expert."

"I’ll go shorter than that because honestly, if Congress wishes to take that up, I think Congress would have to do the work, but we would be there to provide technical assistance," Dettlebach responded. "I, unlike you, am not a firearms expert to the same extent as you may be. But we have people at ATF who can talk about velocity of firearms, what damage different kinds of firearms cause, so that whatever determination you chose to make would be an informed one." ---More...