April 11 (UPI) — President Joe Biden on Monday nominated former U.S. Attorney Steve Dettelbach to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and unveiled a new rule to address the growing concerns over so-called “ghost guns.”
Biden’s announcement comes amid a rise in violent crimes in which ghost guns — privately made firearms without serial numbers — are becoming more common.
Dettelbach served for two decades as a prosecutor in the Justice Department and has a track record in combating violent crime, domestic violence, extremism and religious violence.
“His leadership and his record of innovation in fighting crime and violence make him ready from day one to aggressively and creatively address these pressing issues at the director of ATF,” the White House said in a statement.
One of the issues Dettelbach will face is the proliferation of “ghost guns,” untraceable weapons that can be purchased from parts online and put together.
The White House said ghost guns are “the weapon of choice” for many violent criminals.
Biden and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco will detail the new rule to rein in the spread of the firearms at a ceremony Monday in the Rose Garden of the White House. The announcement is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. EDT.
The new rule will ban the business of manufacturing the most easily accessible ghost guns, including so-called “buy build shoot” kits that don’t require a background check.
“Last year alone, there were approximately 20,000 suspected ghost guns reported to ATF as having been recovered by law enforcement in criminal investigations — a ten-fold increase from 2016,” the White House added.
“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.”
Among other things, the Justice Department rule will ban federally licensed dealers and gunsmiths from taking unserialized firearms into inventory.
“If an individual builds a firearm at home and then sells it to a pawn broker or another federally licensed dealer, that dealer must put a serial number on the weapon before selling it to a customer,” the White House said in a statement.
