Michael Sullivan (US Attorney)

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Michael Sullivan is the current United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. He is also the Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives^[1] Prior to his appointment he served six years as the District Attorney for Plymouth County, Massachusetts, as well as a representitive in the Massachusetts legislature.

Sullivan was notable for his prosecution of airport workers arrested at Logan Airport as part of "Operation Tarmac".^[2] The Logan 19 were airport workers, arrested as part of Operation Tarmac, because they had lied about their nationality on the job applications. According to the Boston Phoenix:

"It’s true that life has changed since September 11. But with one exception, every US attorney prosecuting Operation Tarmac cases has either reduced or dropped the charges. The exception? Massachusetts’s Sullivan, who is pursuing maximum legal penalties against the former Logan Airport employees swept up in Operation Tarmac. 'Ignoring the alleged criminal activity of illegal immigrants sends the wrong message to the rest of the world,' he tells the Phoenix."

Sullivan was the subject of an article in Fortune magazine, for his prosecution of fraud in the pharmaceutical industry.

Sullivan laid charges, in Boston, on November 23, 2005, against Abdullah Khadr, a Canadian who is alleged to have sold arms to the Taliban.^[1]^[2]^[3]

He is rumored to be a potential Republican challenger for John Kerry's US Senate seat in 2008.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Tenure as ATF Director

In 2007, Sullivan was nominated by President George W. Bush to be the Director of the ATF. In 2006, this position had been made subject to the Senate confirmation process and Sullivan was the first nominee to be sent to the Senate.

Sullivan's nomination is currently blocked by a Senate hold placed by Senators David Vitter (R-La.), Michael Crapo (R-Idaho) and Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho). They have expressed their concern that the ATF is hostile to small gun dealers, pursuing them overzealously for small paperwork infractions and driving law-abiding small retailers out of business. They feel that Sullivan has been indifferent to their concerns and "exhibits a lack of willingness to address these problems."^[3]

Sullivan has been criticized frequently by one such affected gun dealer, Ryan Horsley of Red’s Trading Post, Twin Falls, Idaho, Idaho's oldest gun dealership.^[3], who writes on the blog Red's Trading Post. Horsley says that the ATF has a long track record of abusive behavior and Sullivan, as Acting Director, has continued to defend the ATF's abusive actions without any indication of making changes.^[4]

Sullivan was a keynote speaker and special guest at the 2007 Great Lakes Summit on Gun Violence conference.^[5] This conference was organized by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and funded by a $375,000 grant from the Joyce Foundation.^[6] The report of the conference was titled "Taking a Stand: Reducing Gun Violence in Our Communities" and called for the passage of several gun bans and gun control measures^[5]. The National Rifle Association has criticized the IACP report, calling it "a rubber stamp, bought and paid for, of the pre-existing agenda for gun ban groups." The report was produced with assistance from the Joyce Foundation's Communications Director and with contributions from gun control advocates such as Kristen Rand and Tom Diaz of the Violence Policy Center. The NRA has called the Joyce Foundation an activist foundation whose "shadowy web of huge donations" leads "straight to puppet strings that control the agenda of gun ban groups".^[7]

Sullivan's confirmation is opposed by gun rights groups such as the Gun Owners of America^[8], Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms^[9] and Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership.^[10]. The NRA has not categorically stated its opposition to the confirmation of Mr. Sullivan but has expressed its concern over the ATF's "overly restrictive legal interpretations" and "overly zealous enforcement activities".^[11]