Steve Dettelbach is a former federal prosecutor who served as a U.S. attorney in Ohio from 2009 to 2016 and has run in the past for attorney general of Ohio. He worked in several other positions in the Justice Department and was involved in the prosecution of a man who firebombed an Ohio courthouse.
Steve Dettelbach becomes the first confirmed ATF director since 2015
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday the 12 of July 2022 confirmed Steve Dettelbach, a former federal prosecutor, to run the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), making him the agency’s first confirmed director since 2015.
Dettelbach takes the reins of the agency as the Biden administration and the Justice Department are fighting to combat a surge in violent crime, gun violence, and mass shootings that has touched both big cities and small rural communities across the United States.
Steve was confirmed by the Senate in a 48-46 vote. He’s racked up endorsements from law enforcement officials, former Justice Department officials who worked for both Republican and Democratic administrations, and victims of violence. Two Republican lawmakers, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Rob Portman of Ohio, voted to confirm Steve Dettelbach.
His nomination had been staunchly opposed by gun rights groups, including Gun Owners of America, which wrote a letter Tuesday to Senate leaders urging them to vote against him.
