Biden ATF Pick Opposed Arming Teachers

President Joe Biden’s second pick to head the nation’s gun regulating agency opposed training and arming teachers with military or police backgrounds, an issue likely to be raised at a Senate confirmation hearing today.

In his failed 2018 bid for Ohio attorney general, Steve Dettelbach, nominated to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, opposed arming teachers, claiming that it is a “politician’s plan” that some police opposed.

It is one strongly endorsed by some key officials in Texas who yesterday said it could have lessened the tragic slayings of young children and a teacher at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

As the death count mounted yesterday, for example, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton reiterated his call to arm teachers as the best way to stop or delay a school shooting until police arrive.

“The reality is, we don’t have the resources to have law enforcement at every school,” he said on Fox. “It takes time for law enforcement, no matter how prepared, no matter how good they are to get there. So, having the right training for some of these people at the school is the best hope,” he added.

Sen. Ted Cruz also called for armed school guards.

“We know from past experience that the most effective tool for keeping kids safe is armed law enforcement on the campus,” Cruz told a gaggle of reporters.

“Inevitably, when there’s a murder of this kind, you see politicians try to politicize it. You see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens,” Cruz said, adding, “That doesn’t work.”

But Dettelbach in his 2018 race took the opposite view and endorsed a far-reaching anti-gun position, including a ban on AR-15s.

Among the documents he submitted for today’s Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing was a news story about how he and his opponent would handle school shootings like yesterday’s in Texas.

The winner in the race backed training and arming teachers who had police or military backgrounds.

Dettelbach, however, said that was a bad idea.

“I think this is a politician’s plan, quite frankly, I mean it doesn’t protect people in any meaningful way. It’s more than a day late and much more than a dollar short,” Dettelbach said, according to an NPR news story he included in his background file.

Some major police groups have backed his nomination. Major gun groups, however, including the National Rifle Association, oppose his nomination.