Steve Dettelbach on Tuesday was confirmed as the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, marking the first time the agency will have permanent leadership since 2015.
The White House has long included installing permanent leadership at the ATF as a priority for the Biden administration’s push for improving gun safety. But their timeline for doing so was delayed significantly after their original nomination for David Chipman was withdrawn in 2021 due to a lack of support in the Senate.
And though ATF nominees in previous administrations had also been plagued by hangups in the confirmation process due to the position’s involvement with gun policy, Dettelbach managed to be confirmed with relative ease. Dettelbach was confirmed 48-6, with two Republicans, Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Susan Collins (D-ME), joining Democrats in confirming him to the post.
In his previous post as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, Dettelbach was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. But this time around, had those Republicans not joined Democrats in supporting Dettelbach’s nomination, the outcome could have been delayed or different, given that multiple Democrats are out of office due to COVID and other medical ailments.
