Biden nomination of gun agency director comes one week after Sacramento mass shooting

President Joe Biden on Monday will nominate former U.S. attorney Steve Dettelbach to run the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to senior administration officials, the second attempt from the White House to name a director for the law enforcement agency that investigates unlawful use of guns.

The move comes eight days after a shooting in downtown Sacramento left six dead and a dozen injured, an incident that sparked renewed calls from some Democrats for Biden to name a new ATF director and, more broadly, find new ways to tighten access to firearms.

The nomination also comes more than six months after the president was forced to withdraw his previous nominee for the post, former ATF agent and gun-control advocate David Chipman, when he failed to receive support from enough senators for confirmation, including from some Democrats.

Senior administration officials say they are confident Dettelbach, who served as the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio from 2009 to 2016, will be confirmed “swiftly” in the Senate.

“We will be working hard to ensure that Dettelbach will receive a fair hearing and confirmation that he deserves,” an administration official said. “He should be a non-controversial nominee because he has a long record of working in law enforcement and for the public safety of the people of Ohio and the American people.”

The Senate has confirmed only one presidential nominee to run the ATF since 2006, former director B. Todd Jones in 2013. The nominee traditionally runs into fierce opposition from gun advocates groups, including the NRA.

Biden’s nomination of Dettelbach on Monday will coincide with a Department of Justice announcement finalizing a new rule that reins in so-called “ghost guns, weapons assembled in private that lack a serial number. The regulation aims to ensure such weapons, including “buy build shoot” kits, are classified as firearms that must include a serial number, and that purchasers of them are subject to the same background check purchasers

The Biden administration first proposed the rule last year.