Biden to Unveil New ATF Nominee

President Joe Biden is nominating Steve Dettelbach, former Senate-confirmed U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after anti-gun advocate David Chipman did not muster enough support in the chamber last fall.

Dettelbach’s nomination coincides with the White House and Justice Department announcing the final proposal to counter the proliferation of unserialized, privately-made firearms known as “ghost guns.”

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Senior administration officials described Dettelbach as “a noncontroversial candidate,” but did not detail how they planned to help Dettelbach avoid Chipman’s fate so the federal agency could have its first permanent director since 2015.

“He has a long record of working in law enforcement and for the public safety of the people of Ohio and the American people,” an official told reporters late Sunday. “We will work hard to make sure that Congress confirms him swiftly.”

Biden will address Dettelbach’s nomination alongside Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in a White House Rose Garden ceremony on Monday.

Biden and Monaco will also promote the proposed rule covering so-called “buy build shoot” kits, among other easily accessible ghost guns. The kits will be considered “firearms” under the regulation, pursuant to the Gun Control Act, meaning they will have to become licensed and serialized. Kit manufacturers and vendors will additionally have to become licensed and run background checks before processing a sale.

The framework will similarly require federally licensed dealers and gunsmiths, such as pawnbrokers, to serialize any unserialized firearms they accept into their inventory before they can sell them, including ghost guns made from individual parts, a kit, or by a 3D printer.

The proposal, which builds on executive action Biden took last winter, ensures firearms with split receivers are subject to serial numbers and background checks when they are bought from a licensed dealer, manufacturer, or importer as well. The rule, too, requires licensed firearms dealers to retain key records until they shut down their business or licensed activity.

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Biden withdrew Chipman’s nomination last September after Republican opposition to his association with Giffords, former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords’s anti-gun group, where he is a senior policy adviser.