As a wife of a local high school teacher, a mother of two school-age children, legacy gun violence survivor and Moms Demand Action volunteer, I believe we need an approach to tackling gun violence as sweeping as the problem itself.

A Senate-confirmed director is necessary to provide leadership to the thousands of ATF agents across the country and ensure the agency is taking an all-hands-on-deck approach to tackling gun violence. Due to a lack of leadership, ATF has not evolved to tackle the sources of illegal guns wreaking havoc in our cities.

Steve Dettelbach will be the strong leader the ATF needs and with decades of experience as a prosecutor, will be ready to provide effective enforcement of our gun laws from day one. Dettelbach has already received the support of top law enforcement officials and federal prosecutors from both Republican and Democratic administrations.

I urge Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema to support his confirmation immediately.

Thank you.