美国国家公共电台 NPR--Steve Dettelbach steps in at a critical time to lead the ATF

Steve Dettelbach steps in at a critical time to lead the ATF

Transcript¹

On the wall outside the director's fifth-floor suite² at ATF headquarters hang photographs of the men who have led the agency. The final photo dates to 2015, when the last Senate-confirmed boss left office. Now, seven years later, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives finally has a new confirmed director: Steve Dettelbach.

The former U.S. attorney steps into the ATF job at a critical time.

"Crime is rising. Firearms crime is rising. Mass shootings are rising. Domestic extremism and the sort of undercurrents of violence and domestic extremist actions is rising," Dettelbach said in an interview with NPR.

"These are all public safety threats. Those are all things that are in the wheelhouse of ATF to address. And I hope to be able to to work with the ATF and the other partners to address them and try and make things better."

A series of mass shootings that killed 38 people over two months — at a school, a grocery store and an Independence Day parade — has shocked the nation and put pressure on the federal government to act.

"Look, I'd be naive³ to say that those things aren't going to to continue to happen," Dettelbach said when asked if there would be more shootings like those in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo⁴, N.Y. "It's horrible. It's jarring. I hope people never get used to it."

Dettelbach was also adamant⁵ that despite the steady drumbeat of mass shootings, "it is not acceptable to accept firearms violence is part of our national narrative⁶. It's just not."

"It's not part of the way that people in our country want to raise their families. It's not part of the way that the people who own firearms want to live," he said. "It's not part of the American way. We are not going to accept it."

ATF and others in law enforcement owe it to the survivors⁷ and victims to do everything in their power to deal with the problem of gun violence, Dettelbach said, pointing out that gun violence isn't just mass shootings. There's a steady drumbeat of shootings that almost never make the news but that kill more than 100 people every day, he said. And the government has a duty to help and to protect all of those people as well.

"So to say that the pressure is on is an understatement," he said. "But the pressure is on because it's our job in law enforcement to help people be safer. Can we always succeed? No. But to give up trying, that's not going to happen at ATF. I know that."

Working to drive down gun violence and make the public feel safer

There's no one particular thing driving the recent violence, Dettelbach said. Instead, it's a combination of things, and the mix varies in different parts of the country.

That means that the strategies to combat it have to be tailored in order to succeed and since ATF is a small agency, with around 5,000 employees total,

it will need to work with state and local partners to succeed. And that may mean helping⁸ solve cold homicides in one part of the country and focusing on violent gun cases or gun trafficking in another.

"I think what I would say is we have to be open to new ideas and creative ways of trying to work together to to fight this problem," Dettelbach said.

Driving down violent crime is a goal of law enforcement writ⁹ large, as well as the Biden White House, which has put a lot of stock in getting a Senate-confirmed ATF director in place.

President Biden sees the confirmation¹⁰ of an ATF director as an important piece of the administration's response to the surge in gun violence. His first pick for the post failed to win confirmation due to fierce opposition¹¹ from gun rights groups. A long list of nominees¹² put forward in recent years by Republicans and Democrats¹³ have faced a similar fate. Dettelbach managed to squeak¹⁴ through the Senate with bipartisan support.

Now that he's in the job, Dettelbach says he wants to serve as an advocate for ATF, to ensure it gets the support and resources its needs. But he also will work to make sure that it gets the respect he says it deserves, and that the public knows and values of the agency's work.

"ATF was crucial in running the trace that helped catch the Highland¹⁵ Park shooter just two weeks ago," Dettelbach said about the Independence Day shooting in Illinois. "People need to know that. People need to know that that wasn't easy."

His job is to "remind people of the facts so that ATF men and women who are out there risking their lives can be working with the public, who understand what they're doing to help the public be safe," he said.

That also involves trying boost morale¹⁶ at an agency that has faced years of instability.

Both tasks are challenging in the best of times, let alone in the middle of what the president calls an epidemic¹⁷ of gun violence.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 suite   

n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员

参考例句：

• She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
• That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。

3 naive   

adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的

参考例句：

• It's naive of you to believe he'll do what he says.相信他会言行一致，你未免太单纯了。
• Don't be naive.The matter is not so simple.你别傻乎乎的。事情没有那么简单。

4 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

5 adamant   

adj.坚硬的，固执的

参考例句：

• We are adamant on the building of a well-off society.在建设小康社会这一点上，我们是坚定不移的。
• Veronica was quite adamant that they should stay on.维罗妮卡坚信他们必须继续留下去。

6 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

7 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 writ   

n.命令状，书面命令

参考例句：

• This is a copy of a writ I received this morning.这是今早我收到的书面命令副本。
• You shouldn't treat the newspapers as if they were Holy Writ. 你不应该把报上说的话奉若神明。

10 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。

11 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

12 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

13 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 squeak   

n.吱吱声，逃脱；v.（发出）吱吱叫，侥幸通过；（俚）告密

参考例句：

• I don't want to hear another squeak out of you!我不想再听到你出声！
• We won the game,but it was a narrow squeak.我们打赢了这场球赛，不过是侥幸取胜。

15 highland   

n.(pl.)高地，山地

参考例句：

• The highland game is part of Scotland's cultural heritage.苏格兰高地游戏是苏格兰文化遗产的一部分。
• The highland forests where few hunters venture have long been the bear's sanctuary.这片只有少数猎人涉险的高山森林，一直都是黑熊的避难所。

16 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

17 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。