President Joe Biden is taking another jab at trying to get a Bureau of Alcohol , Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) director con...
President Joe Biden is taking another jab at trying to get a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) director confirmed as he nominated on Monday Steve Dettelbach, a former Senate-confirmed U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
The announcement coincides with the administration's new crackdowns on ghost guns and regulations on firearms manufacturers and dealers.
'This final rule is part of the President's comprehensive gun crime reduction strategy,' according to a fact sheet on the Justice Department action.
Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie immediately pushed back against the Biden administration's new rule, claiming it's unconstitutional.
'The Constitution does not authorize the federal government to prevent you from making your own firearm,' the lawmaker tweeted Sunday before the rule was officially revealed.
'This a fact [sic] that has been recognized for 200+ years. Also, Article 1, Section 1 (literally the first operative sentence in the Constitution) says Congress makes law, not POTUS!'
The new rule notes that Biden's Fiscal Year 2023 budget calls on Congress to deliver funding for implementing the strategy to reduce gun crime.
'These additional resources will fund accountable policing, including by putting more police officers on the beat, and making essential investments in crime prevention and community violence intervention,' the fact sheet reads.
Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco will all deliver remarks in the White House Rose Garden on Monday afternoon regarding the new rules and crackdown on gun crime.
There hasn't been a confirmed director at the ATF in 16 years as the agency remains highly controversial due to its regulation of firearms, which some Republicans claim is government overreach and Democrats deem necessary.
The nomination comes in conjunction to new administration rules on ghost guns and other crackdowns on gun regulations. Pictured: A black Polymer 80 9 mm handgun was recovered by cops after 17-year-old Jeremiah Ryan allegedly tossed it out of his fourth-floor apartment in the Bronx in the aftermath of a shooting that led to the death of a 16-year-old girl on Friday
Dettelbach's nomination is unlikely to be much different, even though he was already confirmed by the Senate to serve as attorney for the U.S. district court in Northern Ohio from 2009-2016. He sought to return to that position last year.
In an unsuccessful 2018 run for attorney general of Ohio, Dettelbach called for reinstating the assault weapons ban as well as implementing background checks on firearms purchases. Both of these topics have sparked intense backlash from GOP politicians.
Biden put Dettelbach forward after gun control advocate and former nominee David Chipman failed to get enough support in the Senate for confirmation to lead the ATF.
Chipman's nomination was stalled for months after opposition from both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and was eventually withdrawn.
The long-awaited rule changes for the sale of ghost guns comes as the administration is under growing pressure to crackdown on a nationwide spike in the use of the deadly weapons.
The new rules revealed Monday morning are designed to get privately made firearms without serial numbers off the streets.
The announcement document from the White House notes that law enforcement recovered around 20,000 suspected ghost guns reported to the ATF in 2021, which was a ten-fold increase from 2016.
'Because ghost guns lack the serial numbers marked on other firearms, law enforcement has an exceedingly difficult time tracing a ghost gun found at a crime scene back to an individual purchaser.'
The fact sheet urged: 'Congress needs to do its job by passing this budget and other essential legislation to reduce gun crime, including legislation to require background checks for all gun sales, ensure that no terrorist can buy a weapon in the United States, ban the sale and possession of unserialized firearms — ghost guns, ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and repeal gun manufacturers' protection from liability.'
The stiffer measures would require firearms dealers to run background checks before they sell ghost gun kits that contain the necessary parts needed to assemble a firearm.
The rule is also expected to change the current definition of a firearm under federal law to include unfinished gun parts, like the receiver of a long gun or the frame of a handgun.
Many of these parts can be legally bought online, with no license required and without any serial numbers or other markings on it.
Ghost guns on display at the headquarters of the San Francisco Police Department in San Francisco. A so-called ghost gun is a firearm without a serial number because they are made by private citizens and not manufacturers
The ghost gun rule has languished for almost a year as it has made its way through the federal regulation process, with Democrats and gun safety groups advocating for the Justice Department to finalize the rule in recent months.
However, the rule changes will almost certainly draw the ire of pro-gun groups, who will attempt to kill the measures.
The exact timing of the rule's announcement hasn't been set. Sources close to the matter could not discuss it publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity. The White House declined to comment.
On Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York urged the Biden administration to speed up the process in approving the rule on ghost guns.
'It's high time for a ghost gun exorcism before the proliferation peaks and before more people get hurt — or worse,' the Democrat said in a statement.
'My message is a simple one: No more waiting on these proposed federal rules. Ghost guns are too easy to build, too hard to trace and too dangerous to ignore.'
From 2016 to 2020, nearly 24,000 ghost guns were recovered at crime scenes by law enforcement, according to Justice Department statistics.
The exact amount of the untraceable guns on the street is difficult to determine, authorities said.
On Sunday, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, pictured, the Senate's top Democrat, urged the Biden administration to speed up the process in approving the rule on ghost gun
Pictured: honor student Angellyh Yambo, 16, who was shot and killed on Friday by a gunman armed with a ghost gun in the Bronx
Pictured: Jeremiah Ryan, 17, the alleged gunman behind the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old Bronx girl, who was shot and killed with a ghost gun on Friday in New York City
Across the country, police have reported increases in ghost guns, with the NYPD alone reporting 131 unserialized firearms since January.
The NYPD on Sunday revealed the ghost gun that was discovered after 17-year-old Jeremiah Ryan allegedly shot dead honor student Angellyh Yambo, 16, as she walked home from school.
Cops discovered the black Polymer 80 9-mm. handgun after Ryan reportedly tossed it out of his fourth-floor Bronx apartment following the fatal shooting, the New York Post reported.
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