Don't let the NRA derail Biden's ATF pick. He's key to fighting gun violence: Ex-ATF agent
I was an NRA police firearms instructor with ATF for several years. I used to believe the NRA represented me, but I haven’t felt that way in a long time.
For many years, my identity was shaped by two organizations: the National Rifle Association and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. I joined the NRA as a “life member” in 1965 and started working at ATF in 1969. In the years since, I’ve watched the NRA mismanage its resources, grow far more extreme and dangerous, and let down the responsible gun owners like me that it claims to represent.
Meanwhile, the NRA has hampered the effectiveness of ATF by ensuring that it is too small and underfunded to effectively investigate and prevent violent crime. The NRA was responsible for laws that prevented ATF from using any computer systems to aid our investigations, resulting in urgent life-and-death firearms traces being done by phone call. And it has successfully prevented anyone from leading the agency since 2015.