Craig, Crapo block ATF nominee

WASHINGTON – Idaho’s two senators are blocking President Bush’s nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, saying the agency has become overly aggressive in enforcing gun laws.

Republican Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo placed separate holds on the nomination of federal prosecutor Michael Sullivan, who has served as acting director of the ATF for more than a year.

Crapo spokesman Lindsay Nothern said the senator’s office has 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 President Bush for the ATF job in March.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved his nomination last month.

Crapo met with Sullivan last week and “had some pointed questions,” Nothern said. The senator is still waiting for answers, Nothern said.

Sidney Smith, a spokesman for Craig, said Craig’s intention “was not to throw up a permanent roadblock. We were hearing concerns from people in our state about how ATF was working with law-abiding gun dealers on compliance issues.”

Craig also met with Sullivan, and also awaits answers to his questions, Smith said.

The action by the Idaho senators comes as an Idaho gun shop wages a high-profile battle with the ATF over its right to buy and trade guns.

The ATF stripped the license of Red’s Trading Post, in Twin Falls 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. U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge allowed the gun shop to continue operating until he decides whether the license revocation was legal. The case is pending.

Sullivan, a former GOP state legislator, has been known for a tough stance on drug and gun cases in his tenure as U.S. attorney. One judge criticized him publicly for burdening the federal system with cases that could be handled by state prosecutors.

Sullivan could not immediately be reached for comment.

Under Senate rules, a single senator, sometimes anonymously, can put a hold on legislative action for months.