Alain Stephens, The Trace:
So, part of this is just because it's a very controversial position.
In 2006, the National Rifle Association had successfully lobbied to remove the ATF director from a presidential appointment and to one that required congressional confirmation. And since then, they have been in a near perpetual cycle of acting directors, with only one confirmed director in the last 15 years in the form of B. Todd Jones under the Obama administration.
And, because of this, right, the GOP and its allies have been able to really kind of hamper any sort of director from getting confirmed time and time again. So it's already a controversial position.
And so, when you look at this, and anyone who has covered the ATF for some time, that is kind of par for the course to see this level of resistance. What was particularly interesting with Biden's pick, however, was, because the position is so controversial, historically, there's a tendency to kind of pick safer candidates.
And in this case, Biden felt that he was very confident to try to push forward one that has some strong and vocal gun control support. And for many Democrats and independent Congress members who are in gun-friendly state, that was just a bridge too far.
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