After much talk and little action on guns, President Joe Biden finally took a few small steps forward this week. Actually getting a handle on the country’s epidemic of gun violence will require Congress to do its job.
On Monday, Biden nominated Steve Dettelbach, a former federal prosecutor, to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF. He also laid out a new initiative to combat “ghost guns,” or homemade firearms that lack serial numbers. It’s about time on both counts.
The ATF has been leaderless for the entirety of Biden’s term. (In fact, it hasn’t had a confirmed director since 2015.) The president’s previous pick was well qualified but so strident in his criticism of the gun lobby that even some moderate Democrats raised objections, leading Biden to pull the nomination in September. Hopefully the administration is right that Dettelbach, who has a long record of public service, will be a “noncontroversial appointment.” Quickly confirming him is the least Congress could do.
