Since the elections last November when President Donald Trump reclaimed the White House and Republicans gained majorities in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, there has been considerable discussion about abolishing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Now that talk has turned into action, as first reported by Newsweek. On January 3, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado, introduced House Resolution 129 to abolish the ATF, which, under President Joe Biden, has transformed into a lawmaking body rather than just an enforcement agency.
The language for the measure is not yet available. However, the title of the resolution tells us everything we need to know: “To Abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.”
Boebert, one of the strongest gun-rights members of Congress, stated on X, that the time is right to completely get rid of the agency, not try to reform it.
“The time has come,” she wrote. “ABOLISH THE ATF!”
In fact, Boebert has long contended that the agency has lost its way.
“Bureaucrats don’t create laws, Congress does,” she stated on the House floor back when ATF was advancing yet another final rule under Biden. “This rule functions like a law that Congress never passed. We don’t trust the ATF because of their overreaching actions exactly like we’re seeing with this rule.”
Boebert also spoke passionately about the agency’s faults during a February 2023 speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
“There’s been a lot of talk about defunding the ATF, even abolishing the agency altogether, and I’m still here waiting to hear a good reason why the ATF should remain an agency at all,” she said. “Instead of providing regulations that keep our communities safe, this agency has made our communities more dangerous by wandering weapons to the cartels. Operation Fast and Furious exposed the recklessness of the ATF, how little regard they have for the rule of law, and Americans have had a hard time viewing these agencies and their rules as legitimate.”
Boebert is among several members of Congress who are frustrated with the ATF’s extensive “rulemaking” under the Biden Administration. During Biden’s term, the ATF issued several “final rules,” including controversial regulations banning pistol braces, redefining what constitutes a “firearm” and changing the definition of who is considered “engaged in the business” of selling firearms.
In fact, as recently as last November, Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Missouri, voiced his desire to have the agency abolished.
“The ATF is a disaster,” Burleson told Fox News. “For decades, they’ve been a disaster agency, and they’ve been violating the Second Amendment. Every time they try to get involved, they mess things up. They have a long history of mistakes … This is an agency that just continues to violate citizens’ rights and Second Amendment rights, and I think that at the end of the day, this agency needs to be abolished.”
Incoming President Donald Trump has vowed to reform the ATF and pledged to fire ATF Director Steven Dettelbach on his first day in office. To preempt that situation, Dettelbach recently announced his resignation, effective January 18—two days before President Trump’s inauguration.
