President Donald Trump hasn't exactly been coasting during his first few months in office. His first 100 days were dizzying, to say the least, and there's no indication that he's interested in slowing down in the second 100 days.
Part of that effort seems to be to cut funding for federal law enforcement, particularly the ATF.
And he's not exactly being shy about why he's cutting it, either:
The Budget bolsters the Second Amendment by cutting funding for ATF offices that have criminalized law-abiding gun ownership through regulatory fiat. The previous administration used the ATF to attack gun-owning Americans and undermine the Second Amendment by requiring near- universal background checks; subjecting otherwise lawful gun owners to up to 10 years in prison for failing to register pistol braces that make it possible for disabled veterans to use firearms; the imposition of excessive restrictions on homemade firearms; and the revocation of Federal Firearms Licenses, which shut down small businesses across the Nation. The Budget re-prioritizes resources toward illegal firearms traffickers fueling violent crime and crime gun tracing that State and local law enforcement need to track down dangerous criminals, such as MS-13 gang members.
Well...that's going to be a bit of a thing.
The ATF doesn't take the biggest cut for federal law enforcement in Trump's proposal – that distinction goes to the FBI – but it's not far from it. In fact, it's only 37 million less than the proposed FBI cut.
However, the ATF's 2024 budget was only $1.6 billion. Losing the proposed $468 million will be a massive blow. By comparison, the FBI's $11.3 billion can withstand the $545 million Trump wants to cut far, far easier.
And honestly, the way the ATF conducted itself under Biden was a massive problem.
While much of that was at the direction of the president at the time, the truth was that few there seemed interested in protecting the right of the people to keep and bear arms, nor was there any obvious effort to focus on criminals, illegal gun traffickers, or literally anything else.
Instead, they've just made life unbearable for lawful gun stores, engaged in illegal monitoring of lawful gun purchases, shown up at people's doors to ask them about recent gun purchases, and generally been everything gun rights advocates have long been afraid would come.
As such, the bureau has no one to blame but itself for this.
Can they continue operations with such a drastically cut budget? Yes, they can.
Most ATF agents never leave their desks, most of the time. They just add charges onto arrests local cops make from the comfort of their offices and almost never investigate a blasted thing. If there being less money means they have to actually work for a change, especially going after criminals, so much the better.
Of course, then again, when they do try to investigate, they tend to botch that pretty well, too.
But it doesn't mean they can't do it. It would be a nice change of pace to see them actually arrest criminals, black market gun dealers, and everyone else for a change and leave the rest of us alone.
