Biden's ATF nominee Dettelbach gets ex-directors' endorsement ahead of Senate confirmation hearing

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration’s nominee to lead the government’s gun enforcement agency has won the endorsement of eight former directors and acting leaders ahead of a crucial Senate confirmation hearing for the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives which has been without permanent leadership for seven years.

The former leaders, whose collective tenure spans four decades, sought to rally support for Steven Dettelbach, a former federal prosecutor, whose Senate appearance comes just more than a week after a massacre at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store prompted fresh calls for gun regulation.

A letter from the former directors, including the last confirmed ATF chief B. Todd Jones, underscored an untenable state of uncertainty that has shadowed the agency for years: a chronic lack of permanent leadership.

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“The single and most logical person to question and to hold accountable both on the policy front and the everyday execution of existing laws would be the Director of ATF,” the officials said. “Without a Director there is no one to hold accountable.”

As with all prior nominees to the post, Dettelbach faces stiff resistance from the powerful gun lobby, led by the National Rifle Association, which helped derail President Joe Biden's first nominee for the job, David Chipman.

Chipman, a 25-year veteran of the agency, drew sharp criticism from Republicans, who argued his work with gun control groups Everytown and Giffords, named for former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, disqualified him from the oversight and enforcement post.

The NRA also quickly moved to oppose Dettelbach, saying Biden had sought to "double-down on his attempt to put a gun control advocate in charge" of the agency.

"Like Chipman, Dettelbach is a dedicated gun controller with a background that proves he would be neither fair nor objective as head of ATF," the group said immediately after Dettelbach was nominated last month.

The NRA's opposition was echoed by Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Judiciary Committee's ranking Republican who promised close scrutiny of the nominee, noting a prior endorsement from Everytown during an unsuccessful run for Ohio attorney general in 2018. At the time, the group lauded Dettelbach's support for expanding background checks on gun sales.

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"Even a cursory review of his statements about gun ownership demonstrate a lack of awareness of the circumstances surrounding legal gun acquisition, or outright favoritism of expansive gun control," Grassley wrote to Biden following the nomination.

The Grassley letter likely offers a preview of the kind of opposition Dettelbach will confront during Wednesday's Senate hearing.

At the same time, the hearing comes just after a stunning mass shooting in which the accused attacker allegedly embraced virulent white supremacist ideology and specifically targeted Black victims.  Of the 10 people killed and three injured in the shooting, 11 were Black, police said.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has said the 18-year-old suspect acquired the rifle used in the attack legally but the weapon had been modified with a high-capacity magazine. New York bars the sale of any magazine that has a capacity of more than 10 rounds.

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The Buffalo attack also highlighted the convergence of the growing threat posed by racially motivated attackers at a time when violent crime has been surging across the country.

Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino, recently described the environment as unusually volatile.

"Nearly every social science data marker is flashing an undeniable warning sign," Levin told USA TODAY.

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Rising violent crime was among the issues cited by a string of law enforcement groups that also offered their support for Dettelbach.

"As communities nationwide are facing an increase in violent crimes and gun violence, strong leadership within the ATF is essential to coordinate and manage the range of issues that the agency is faced with," said David LaBahn, president and chief executive officer of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, in a letter to the Judiciary Committee.

Dettelbach was unavailable for comment in advance of the Senate hearing, but following his nomination he described the ATF as vital in effort to combat violent crime.

"They don’t write the laws," the former Ohio U.S. attorney said. "Their mission every day is just to go out and enforce those laws and protect the public from a wide range of threats."

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Bradley Buckles, one of the eight former ATF leaders to endorse the nominee, said he couldn't recall a time when permanent leadership was more necessary.

"We all believe that it has been way too long," said Buckles, whose service as director straddled the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. "I don't think it's good government" to allow the agency to operate without permanent leadership.

"The degree of uncertainty is difficult," he said.

Buckles, however, acknowledged the difficult path to confirmation, saying that the gun lobby has a "political agenda" that does not include a fully functioning ATF.

"It is not in their interest to have anybody in charge," he said.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden's ATF nominee Steven Dettelbach endorsed by 8 former directors