Biden Will Nominate a New ATF Director as He Unveils a Formal Ghost Gun Rule
President Joe Biden is nominating an Obama-era U.S. attorney to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as his administration unveils its formal rule to rein in ghost guns, privately made firearms without serial numbers that are increasingly cropping up at crime scenes.
The White House confirmed that Biden is announcing the nomination of Steve Dettlebach, who served as a U.S. attorney in Ohio from 2009 to 2016, in a Monday afternoon event. The administration is also releasing the finalized version of its ghost gun rule, which comes as the White House and the Justice Department have been under growing pressure to crack down on gun deaths and violent crime in the U.S.
Dettlebach’s confirmation is likely to be an uphill battle for the Biden administration. Biden had to withdraw the nomination of his first ATF nominee, gun-control advocate David Chipman, after the nomination stalled for months because of opposition from Republicans and some Democrats in the Senate.
