By Allan Lengel
Marvin G. Richardson, the ATF acting director, is being accused by gun control advocates of cozying up to the gun industry at a time President Biden is pushing for a crackdown.
The New York Times reports that in late January President Joe Biden repeated his vow to halt the sale of parts used to make deadly “ghost guns.”
But Richardson, who was expected to have already put that policy in place, told a gathering of weapons manufacturers that the rule banning those online parts would not be completed until June.
The Times reports that the slow enactment infuriated Biden allies.
“A.T.F. needs a top-to-bottom overhaul,” John Feinblatt, the president of Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun control group funded by former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, told the Times. “That starts with the administration making sure the agency has the resources and leadership it needs to regulate an industry that has consistently prioritized profits over public safety.”
