Past GOP efforts to eliminate the agency have drawn resistance from Democrats and the Biden administration.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) has joined Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) in introducing legislation to abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the latest in a series of attempts by Republicans to abolish the agency.
“I cannot imagine under any circumstance or administration where the ATF serves as an ally to the Second Amendment and law-abiding firearm owners across America,” Boebert said in a Jan. 8 statement on the one-page bill. “The ATF should be abolished before they eventually abolish our Second Amendment.”
Burlison, who was first elected in 2022 to represent his heavily Republican district of southwestern Missouri, described the agency as “emblematic of the deep-state bureaucracy that believes it can infringe on constitutional liberties without consequence.”
He was co-sponsor of a similar bill in 2023 with former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).
In 2021, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) introduced a longer bill, the Brian A. Terry Memorial Eliminate the ATF Act, named after a U.S. Border Patrol agent who was killed in the line of duty.
That proposed measure outlined plans to transfer ATF responsibilities and assets to the Department of Justice. It would have also created a “Border Patrol Agent Killed in Action Trust Fund” under the Treasury Department.
Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Mike Collins (R-Ga.), Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), Mary Miller (R-Ill.), Bob Onder (R-Mo.), and Keith Self (R-Texas) co-sponsored the latest piece of legislation.
Vivek Ramaswamy also floated the idea of getting rid of the ATF in 2023 during his presidential campaign, as part of a plan to cut the federal employee headcount by 75 percent. His plan also encompassed the elimination of the FBI, the Department of Education, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Republicans have criticized rulemaking by the ATF, including a rule targeting pistol braces that was overturned in 2024 by a federal judge.
In 2023, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates described the targeting of the ATF as emblematic of “MAGA extremism,” calling it “a growing threat to the fight against violent crime and fentanyl trafficking.”
During an April 2023 oversight hearing on the agency, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Republicans were trying “to eliminate the law enforcement agency responsible for protecting communities from gun violence, stopping gun trafficking, and ensuring lawful and responsible gun ownership.”
Speaking to CBS News earlier this month, the outgoing director of the ATF, Steve Dettelbach, said “people would be killed” if the ATF was eliminated.
“I believe that the mission of this agency, which is fighting violent crime, is wildly nonpartisan and bipartisan,” he said.