Senate Confirms Steve Dettelbach To Lead ATF
Dettelbach becomes the first Senate-confirmed ATF Director since 2015
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Senate confirmed Steve Dettelbach’s nomination to serve as Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) by a bipartisan vote of 48-46. U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement regarding Dettelbach’s confirmation:
“When a mass shooter tears apart a community like Highland Park, Illinois, ATF agents are among the first to arrive on scene. In fact, in the hours following the attack in Highland Park, it was ATF agents who traced the firearm belonging to the confessed shooter. Our country and our communities deserve an ATF that is fully equipped to respond on our nation’s darkest days—and to enforce the laws on the books to prevent these tragedies in the first place. Steve Dettelbach is exactly the right leader for this challenge.”
Dettelbach has dedicated his career to the rule of law, serving for over two decades as a prosecutor at various levels of the Department of Justice and earning a reputation as a consensus-builder committed to making our communities safer. As the Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio (NDOH) from 2009 until 2016, Dettelbach led efforts in the district to combat domestic extremism—including religion-motivated violence—and worked directly with the ATF in a number of cases. Notably, Dettelbach’s nomination to lead the ATF received the support of numerous law enforcement agencies, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA), Major County Sheriffs of America (MCSA), and many others.
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