UPDATED: 11 APR 2022 03:36 PM EST
The White House on Monday unveiled a new slate of measures aimed at curbing an increase in gun violence and announced the nomination of Steve Dettelbach to serve as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
President Joe Biden previously announced David Chipman, an official at the gun control group Giffords, to serve as ATF director last April. But Biden withdrew the nomination in September amid resistance from centrist Democrats and Republicans in the Senate.
POLITICO reported last week that Biden was expected to announce a new nominee as early as this month and that Dettelbach, a former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, was under serious consideration for the post. The ATF has not had a permanent director since 2015.
On Monday, the White House said in a statement that Dettelbach “has a proven track record of working with federal, state, and local law enforcement to fight violent crime and combat domestic violent extremism and religious violence — including through partnerships with the ATF to prosecute complex cases and take down violent criminal gangs.”
Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco addressed the administration’s new measures on Monday afternoon in the White House Rose Garden.
“Steve’s record makes him ready on Day One to lead the agency,” Biden said, formally announcing his nominee. The president noted that Dettelbach had been unanimously confirmed by the Senate in 2009 to serve as U.S. attorney.
Following Biden’s speech, Dettelbach talked about his time as a career prosecutor and his admiration for the ATF’s work alongside law enforcement to “protect the American people.” He echoed Biden’s message, saying the agency needed more support.
“I’ve seen firsthand the work that so many at the ATF do to protect us from violence,” Dettelbach said. “They’re dedicated, they’re professional, and they’re effective. They don’t write the laws. Their mission everyday is just to go out and enforce those laws to protect the public from a wide range of threats. If confirmed, I promise to support the men and the women of the ATF and to do everything in our power to protect the people of this nation every single day.”
In addition to Dettelbach’s nomination, the White House announced that the Justice Department had issued a final rule to help stop the spread of so-called ghost guns — homemade or makeshift firearms that lack serial numbers.
The final rule “bans the business of manufacturing the most accessible ghost guns” and “clarifies that these kits qualify as ‘firearms’ under the Gun Control Act,” according to the White House. It also will “help turn some ghost guns already in circulation into serialized firearms.”
Furthermore, the White House said the final rule requires firearms dealers “to retain key records until they shut down their business or licensed activity,” and it “ensures that firearms with split receivers are subject to regulations requiring serial numbers and background checks.”
The president on Monday walked over to a prop during his speech, showing the crowd the “Buy-Build-Shoot pistol kit.” He said anyone could order the kits to create ghost guns.
“A year later, we’re here to keep that promise,” Biden said. “The gun lobby tried to tie up the regulators and paperwork for a long, long time. The NRA called this rule I’m about to announce extreme. Extreme. But let me ask you, is it extreme to protect police officers, extreme to protect our children, extreme to keep guns out of the hands of people who couldn’t even pass a background check? It isn’t extreme. It is just basic common sense.”
Biden, a former senator from Delaware, helped author the Federal Assault Weapons Ban in the 1994 crime bill when he served as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
On the 2020 campaign trail, he renewed his call for such a ban and expressed support for a national program to buy back those guns from Americans, but he said he would not confiscate firearms already in circulation.
As vice president, Biden led the gun task force that resulted in the Obama administration’s advocating legislation in 2013 requiring universal background checks. He has maintained that position as president.
Biden also proposed legislation during the 2020 campaign to “give states and local governments grants to require individuals to obtain a license prior to purchasing a gun,” as well as to “regulate possession of existing assault weapons.”
Under his campaign’s plan, owners of assault weapons or high-capacity magazines would either register them or sell them to the government as part of a buyback program.
Myah Ward contributed to this report.
