Idaho’s senators are blocking President Bush’s nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, on the ground that the the agency has become overly aggressive in enforcing gun laws, reports the Associated Press. Republican Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo placed holds on the nomination of federal prosecutor Michael Sullivan, the acting ATF director for more than a year. A Crapo spokesman said the senator had heard from a number of gun dealers, gun owners and others in Idaho who “have concerns about ATF policies regarding gun sales and even (gun) ownership. Maybe the federal government is getting a little too aggressive with people who haven’t done anything wrong.”
Sullivan, who also serves as U.S. attorney in Massachusetts, was nominated by Bush in March. Under Senate rules, a single senator, can put a hold on legislative action for months. The ATF stripped the license of Red’s Trading Post, in Twin Falls, Id., in March after an audit found numerous record-keeping violations over a five-year period. A federal judge later ruled the agency had exaggerated and omitted some of the findings it used to revoke the license.
Link: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-12-12-812485567_x.htm