Issue: Defund the ATF
Summary: The ATF is an abusive and oppressive government agency that enforces unconstitutional, anti-gun regulations. It must be defunded and disbanded. And the laws and regulations that ATF enforces must be put to rest by Congress.
The ATF has one of the most unlikable origin stories of any agency in the federal government. Its history can be traced back to the brutal enforcement of alcohol prohibition as the Bureau of Prohibition. The bureau has been passed around from treasury, to DOJ, to the FBI, and back again. One thing has remained constant, though. Now, like then, its exclusive purpose has been to violently enforce immoral laws against the American people.
Despite knowing full well American gun owners go to great lengths to follow its recommendations, the Bureau has been known to change its mind without warning, subjecting millions of Americans to the threat of prison time and the loss of their civil rights, just for peaceably owning firearms and accessories.
Our Constitution requires the legislature to make new laws, within a narrow, and clearly defined scope of power. It does not contemplate an unaccountable agency of violent bureaucrats making up new rules as they see fit.
In their enforcement of laws like the NFA and GCA, which severely punish Americans for simply possessing arms, the Bureau has been known to murder dozens upon dozens of people and itself sell weapons to international arms traffickers. There is no need for this type of organization, and certainly no place for one in a free society.
Additionally, the laws and regulations the ATF enforces must be repealed, as merely disbanding this awful agency would likely result in another agency like the FBI oppressing the American people in the ATF's name.
Please join FPC in demanding that Congress defund & disband the ATF, and repeal all the awful anti-gun laws and regulations ATF enforces.
