Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) has introduced a bill to abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
The Abolish the ATF Act (H.R. 129) would shutter the government agency that is responsible for regulating alcohol, tobacco, and firearms. The ATF was founded in 1866 as the “Revenue Laboratory” under the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Internal Revenue. It was made an independent agency of the Treasury Department in 1927. In 1930, the ATF was transferred to the Department of Justice before being transferred back to the Treasury Department in 1933, and it became the Alcohol Tax Unit (ATU).
In the 1950s, the Bureau of Internal Revenue became the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The ATU was renamed to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division (ATTD). In 1968, after Congress passed the Gun Control Act (GCA), the agency’s name was changed to the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division of the IRS and was first referred to as the “ATF.” In 1972, the ATF was once again established as an independent bureau within the Treasury Department. The name was changed to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush signed into law the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The law shifted the ATF back to the Justice Department. In 2003, the ATF changed its name to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, although it would still be referred to as the ATF. The taxation portion of the agency moved to the newly formed Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), leaving the majority of the ATF’s mission to regulate firearms.
Firearms are protected under the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment doesn’t grant us the right to bear arms. The founders were very clear that those rights come from the creator and are natural rights. The Second Amendment can be viewed as a negative liberty for the government. It strips the government of the right to infringe on the rights of the people to carry arms. Rep Boebert’s bill would double down on this by disbanding the agency whose primary purpose is to regulate a constitutionally protected freedom.
The time has come.
ABOLISH THE ATF! https://t.co/f24PS0DwSA
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) January 6, 2025
During her speech about the bill, Rep Boebert highlighted her belief that instead of making us safer, the ATF has made the streets more dangerous by allowing firearms to flow to Mexican drug cartels through programs like “Fast & Furious.” During that operation, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agent Brian Terry was shot and killed by a firearm that the ATF let “walk” to the Mexican drug cartels. Many others on the Mexican side of the border were also killed with those guns allowed to flow into the hands of cartel members.
The ATF also has a history of using the rule-making process as an end-around to Congress. The ATF attempted to ban bump stocks by modifying the definition of a machine gun, only to have SCOTUS reject their efforts. This case is not the only instance of the ATF overstepping its power in the eyes of the courts.
After Congress refused to institute universal background checks (UBC), the ATF made an “engaged in the business” rule, which made almost everyone selling a firearm a “gun dealer.” Most people saw this new rule as “backdoor universal background checks.” A Texas Federal District Court judge has issued an injunction against this rule, blocking the ATF from enforcing it. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has also blocked the ATF’s attempts to reclassify pistols with stabilizing devices to be short, barreled rifles (SBR), gun parts as firearms, and forced reset triggers (FRT) to be machine guns.
To many, the ATF has become more of a tool of the executive branch than an independent law enforcement and regulatory agency. That is why Rep. Boebert and others want to disband the troubled Bureau, although she is facing an uphill battle. Republicans hold the majority in both chambers of Congress but do not have the supermajority needed in the Senate to pass the bill unless some Democrats cross over to back the bill, which is very unlikely. The bill isn’t even expected to have all Republicans back it.
This bill is more of a shot across the bow on the ATF. It is a warning that the eyes of Congress are watching. It may be symbolic, but it is a good start for those who want to abolish the ATF.
About John Crump
Mr. Crump is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people from all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons, follow him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
Boebert’s bill “symbolic?” I don’t think so. You have thousands of employees of the ATF who have tasted the Marxist Gestapo like power since Obama and are now contaminated with it. We can no longer depend on them to honor the Constitution and our sovereignty. We need to cut billions from the budget anyway. They can no longer be trusted as a system. The dysfunction is already been ingrained in their psyche. The cancer needs to be cut out.
Defund , disband the entire ATF and give the clowns the option to become ICE agents where they can be of real service to the American people .
I rather see a bill abolishing GCA68.
Thanks John for the chronology of when the ATF started and how it started. So the million dollar question is, if Trump can remove it with the stroke of a pen, why is Boebert in congress trying to remove it? Is it because Trump won’t do it or he can’t? I understand why Matt Gatez tried under ObiDUMB. I can’t wait to see how this turns out. I never heard Trump say he would remove it but I did hear him say that it would be revamped and that it would be made clear that it has no authority to… Read more »
OK, take a breath and back up. Reconsider this: ‘To many, the ATF has become more of a tool of the executive branch than an independent law enforcement and regulatory agency.’ Every federal agency is ‘a tool of the Executive.’ We do not have a fourth branch of government containing all of the bureaucrats. At least not legally. Many in the Administrative State believe this to be the case but it is no. For further reading on the issue to to the Nobel Prize winner James Buchanan of George Mason University. I think what you might have intended was to say ATFE(FizzyDrinks,… Read more »
government(s) exist only to accumulate power over its citizens and then wield that power like a bludgeon.
The Second Amendment can be viewed as a negative liberty for the government. this is why government attacks the Second Amendment, it is supposed to limit their power. It strips the government of the right to infringe on the rights of the people to carry arms.unless some politicians make-up laws that give government the power to do so, which is what we have seen since the 30’s and the nfa.
great idea, fire them all and do not rehire any of them ever.
The ATF is a government agency which never should have existed. As a teenage I used to read stories where the ATF raided homes in the dark of the night because someone bought an inert grenade at a gunshow or one spouse had a criminal record. But the Bill of Rights says “SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED”. ATF is an infringement on common decency and human rights.
“The bill is not expected to even have all Republicans back it”. Excuse my French, but it sounds like we need some new Goddamned Republicans.
If it happens, which it most likely won’t. Tyrants need tyrant enforcers, she can work on the other 438 UNCONSTITUTIONAL federal agencies. First requirement to be in the ATF is to have a psychological evaluation. If the score comes back that you’re a PSYCHOPATHIC CONTROL FREAK PARASITE, you go to the front of the class.