Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado has introduced a bill that would abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Newsweek has contacted Boebert's office and the ATF for comment via email outside of regular working hours.
Why It Matters
The federal agency that regulates firearms has long been a target of Republicans. MAGA lawmakers, including Boebert, may feel emboldened to now go after such targets as the GOP enters 2025 controlling both the House and Senate, with President-elect Donald Trump also set to return to the White House on January 20.
What to Know
Boebert introduced HR 129 on January 3, when Congress reconvened for its 119th term.
The bill remains in the early stages of the legislative process, and no text is currently available.
Republicans have accused the Joe Biden administration of having "weaponized" the ATF against gun owners in the U.S. The ATF regulates the firearm and explosive industry and also, with local enforcement, traces weapons that have been used in crimes.
Missouri Representative Eric Burlison called for the ATF to be abolished in November 2024 during an appearance on Fox News Digital. Burlison cited numerous "mistakes" attributed to the agency, including Operation Fast and Furious.
The failed sting operation, which ran from 2009 to 2011, was intended to allow firearms to be illegally sold in the U.S. to purchasers believed to be linked to Mexican drug cartels and track them. However, hundreds of the nearly 2,000 firearms involved were lost by the agency, and some were later linked to murders, including the killing of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010.
The ATF has also been accused of regulatory overreach by gun rights groups, namely when introducing a rule that classified pistols equipped with stabilizing braces as short-barreled rifles. The National Firearms Act (NFA) imposes stricter requirements on short-barreled rifles because they are more concealable than long-barreled rifles while having greater firepower than handguns.
In August 2024, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the stabilizing brace rule was likely illegal.
Boebert is one of Congress' staunchest gun rights advocates. She previously owned Shooters Grill, a restaurant in Colorado where staff can openly carry firearms.
What People Are Saying
Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert speaking on the House floor in February 2023: "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. 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."
Texas Representative Pat Fallon, a Republican, during an Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs subcommittee hearing in May 2023, said: "Under the Biden administration, the ATF has been weaponized against gun owners and Americans who wish to acquire firearms in numerous ways in recent years."
Missouri Representative Eric Burlison, speaking to Fox News Digital in November 2024: "The ATF is a disaster. 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."
Steven Dettelbach, ATF director, told The New York Times, in December: "People who don't think that law enforcement, including ATF, has anything to do with driving down violent crime are just wrong—it didn't happen by accident...What I am concerned about is that is that people will take their eye off the ball, that they'll either get complacent or political, or some combination of those things...That will result in more people getting killed."
What Happens Next
Boebert's bill has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration.
Despite the GOP's trifecta government, the bill to abolish the ATF has a 4 percent chance of advancing past the committee and a 2 percent chance of being enacted, according to Govtrack.us, which tracks congressional votes. In 2021-2023, 11 percent of bills made it past committee and about 2 percent were enacted, according to the website.
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