Summer Lee

During Thursday’s House Oversight Committee hearing regarding “Privacy Protections and the Second Amendment,” Rep. Summer Lee (D) suggested the ATF has been captured by the gun industry.

Lee was questioning ATF Director Robert Cekada about the 34 rule proposals/revisions/modifications he put forward after being confirmed as Director, and she asked if the ATF consulted with gun violence victims or with the gun control lobby and Cekada responded, “No we did not.”

She also asked, “Did you consult with gun industry-affiliated groups, such as the NRA, Gun Owners of America, the NSSF… in formulating a drafting of the rule makings?”

Cekada responded, “No we did not.”

Despite affirming that the ATF did not work with gun industry members on the rules/proposals, Lee followed up by asking if the ATF has been “captured” by the gun industry?

She said, “Are you familiar with the concept of industry capture? What would you say to those who look at the announcement and the process for crafting these rules and see that the ATF is or might perceive ATF to be influenced by the very firearm industry it’s mean to police?”

Cekada responded:

…ATF isn’t captured by anyone. We are focused on doing our job and following the law. I purposely didn’t meet with anyone. We took the information that we have noticed over the years — again, I’ve been doing this for 34 years, working in the most violent cities in the United States and risking my life, along with the lives of all our partners around the country, to try to make America’s communities better — [but] there is ambiguity in the law, and I think it’s important for people to be able to follow the law, to understand the law. When federal agents don’t understand the law themselves, that leaves all of us at risk.

He added that people from both sides were frustrated because the ATF “didn’t include anyone” in framing the 34 proposals/revisions/modifications.