ATF’s Acting Chief Fails Miserably On Camera

(UnitedVoice.com) – President Joe Biden’s administration cracked down on so-called ghost guns in 2022. Ghost guns are untraceable weapons that people make at home with kits or 3-D printers. The head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) had an embarrassing moment when he tried to demonstrate how easy the weapons were to assemble.

On March 3, Chris Bort and ATF Director Steven Dettelbach joined CBS News’ “Face the Nation” to discuss ghost guns. The segment started with everyone standing in front of a table that held many firearms. Bort picked up a gun that appeared to be a Glock and tried to take it apart. He struggled to get the slide off of the frame before appearing to give up and put it down. He then picked another gun up and quickly pulled it apart.

Bort then grabbed a plastic frame that he said was a ghost gun someone had made. He said that with just “20 minutes of work, they can make it into a working firearm.” Bort tried to attach the slide to the plastic frame but wasn’t able to get it into place. Again, he gave up and put the gun on the table.

WATCH: Chris Bort—the acting chief of the ATF's Firearms Ammunition Technology Division—struggled at disassembling a Glock style handgun during a made-for-tv scaremongering interview with Steven Dettelbach, the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on CBS News. pic.twitter.com/rzcZ0lFGmB

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) March 4, 2024

Dettelbach told the reporter that the ATF isn’t allowed to require gun sellers to regulate the sale of firearm parts. While the director was speaking, Bort casually picked up the Glock that he hadn’t been able to disassemble and gave it a good ol’ college try again. He failed to pull it apart once more. Finally, he handed it to someone offscreen.

Conservatives responded to the video on X, formerly Twitter. One user said it was crazy that Bort is in charge of the agency’s Firearms Ammunition and Technology Division when he is “totally unfamiliar with how to [disassemble] a pistol.”

Another user remarked, “‘something I can do’ …. Literally can’t do.” Someone else pointed out that the two guns weren’t the same, “Did he try to put a 19 slide on a 17 p80?”

The ATF hasn’t commented on the incident.