Could Congress eliminate the ATF under Trump?

Following a series of scandals in recent years, GOP lawmakers presented a plan to eliminate the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and roll its essential duties over to other law enforcement agencies. The legislation went nowhere during the Obama administration — but it’s being reintroduced for 2017.

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner’s ATF Elimination Act would freeze ATF hiring and require the agency to implement a plan for transferring its investigations and assets to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Agency .

The lawmaker said in a statement:

Despite our country being trillions of dollars in debt, government spending continues to rise. Common sense budgeting solutions are necessary, and the ATF Elimination Act is one measure we can take to reduce spending, redundancy, and practice responsible governance. The ATF is a scandal-ridden, largely duplicative agency that has been branded by failure and lacks a clear mission. It is plagued by backlogs, funding gaps, hiring challenges, and a lack of leadership. These facts make it a logical place to begin draining the swamp and acting in the best interest of the American taxpayer.

Sensenbrenner has long called for the ATF’s abolition, citing a series of well-publicized ATF scandals in recent years as proof that the agency does more harm to the nation than good.

In 2010, the ATF’s notorious Fast and Furious program shot to the center of public debate after news broke that Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed with a firearm the agency had allowed to “walk” into the hands of Mexican cartel members.

Then, in December 2013, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel issued a report detailing how ATF agents operating stings in six different cities “took advantage of the mentally ill, set up stings near churches and schools and made decisions which some claim actually increased crime in their neighborhoods” in a bid to trump up firearms charges against individuals.

Though the most recent proposal to eliminate the ATF comes from a Republican, the agency has also come under fire from Democrats in the past.

In 1993, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) introduced legislation to “transfer all functions of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms relating to the regulation of firearms from the Department of the Treasury to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

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