WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden will pick Arizona’s top prosecutor, Gary Restaino as the interim director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives until a permanent leader is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, a White House official said on Wednesday.
The bureau’s current acting director, Marvin Richardson, will remain at the agency as a deputy director, the official who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
The personnel moves at the ATF come at a time when the country is experiencing a surge in gun violence. The Gun Violence Archive estimates there have been 146 mass shootings this year, with 10 reported just over the weekend.
On April 11, Biden nominated Steve Dettelbach, a former U.S. attorney from Ohio, to run the agency.
(Reporting by Alex Alper and Nandita Bose in Washington; editing by Diane Craft)
