On Tuesday, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) acknowledged one of the most unpopular federal agencies by proposing to abolish them.
H.R. 374, the “Abolish the ATF Act” of 2023, would permanently dissolve the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms.
Gaetz’s move came after the ATF issued a controversial ruling on January 13 that increased regulations on firearms accessories. This new rule will treat firearms which are fitted with a stabilizing brace in place of the buttstock like short-barreled rifles, forcing perhaps hundreds of thousands of American gun owners to register their previously legal firearms or face felony charges.
Attorney General Merrick Garland claims that the ruling will promote public safety. Gaetz brings a very different perspective, insisting that this new ATF ruling unjustly punishes disabled gun owners and veterans who use stabilizing braces to be able to fire a handgun with one hand. Said Gaetz:
I have a lot of disabled veterans in my district who enjoy pistol shooting and rely on stabilizing braces to be able to engage in the activity. The recent actions from the ATF essentially allow them to make case-by-case determinations on whether a pistol with a stabilizing brace is legal or an unlawful, sawed-off shotgun.
The continued existence of the ATF is increasingly unwarranted based on the actions they're taking to convert otherwise law-abiding people into felons. My bill would abolish the ATF. If that doesn't work, we're going to try defunding the ATF. If that doesn't work, we're going to target the individual bureaucrats at the top of the ATF who have exceeded their authority in rulemaking. And if that doesn't work, we're going to take a meat cleaver to the statutes that the ATF believes broadly authorize their actions.
The ATF claims its new rule does not impact stabilizing braces that are “objectively designed and intended as a ‘stabilizing brace’ for use by individuals with disabilities, and not for shouldering the weapon as a rifle. Such stabilizing braces are designed to conform to the arm and not as a buttstock. However, if the firearm with the ‘stabilizing brace’ is a short-barreled rifle, it needs to be registered within 120-days from the date of publication in the Federal Register.”
Gaetz remains highly skeptical of the ATF’s ruling and said the following about the ATF:
The people at the ATF making these rules fundamentally don't understand firearms. I think they are under the flawed conception that a stabilizing brace increases the lethality or danger of a pistol. It seems the ATF is on a snipe hunt for regulatory action that virtue signals to the anti-gun left, but that has no real practical safety impact on Americans.
Thus far, H.R. 374 has been referred to the Judiciary Committee and doesn’t have co-sponsors. That said, Gaetz asserts that Republicans broadly support “to go after the actions of ATF.”
Gaetz continued:
I believe that you are likely to see ATF bureaucrats hauled before the Judiciary Committee to explain themselves in the coming weeks and months. Because we’re hearing this very loudly from our constituents, and the reason I filed this bill is, frankly, I think that the ATF should have to justify their existence at all.
In a press release published on January 18, Gaetz’s congressional office highlighted the Florida congressman’s long history of holding the ATF accountable:
During his time in Congress, Congressman Gaetz has sounded the alarm more than once on ATF overreach. In June and September of 2020, he issued letters to Attorney General William Barr and Acting ATF Director Regina Lombardo calling on the ATF to ‘cease taking any actions and reconsider or rescind any secret determinations which call into question the legality of firearms owned by millions of law-abiding Americans.’ Both letters went unanswered by the ATF.
House Republicans have the ATF in our crosshairs. The continued existence of the ATF is increasingly unwarranted based on their repeated actions to convert law-abiding citizens into felons. They must be stopped.
The text of Gaetz’s “Abolish the ATF Act” can be read here.
Gaetz started his political career in the Florida State House (2010-2016) and was elected to the US House in 2016. As the representative of Florida’s 1st congressional district, Gaetz has been one of the most vocal members of the “America First” faction of the Republican Party.
