President Joe Biden’s Twitter feed has been replete in recent days with messages about banning so-called “assault weapons,” even including a video clip where he discusses a new executive order instructing federal agencies to implement new rules that may essentially accomplish the same thing.
No doubt that rule is going to be challenged in federal court as blatantly unconstitutional and, based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s most current rulings on the Second Amendment, will likely be tossed out.
But that isn’t stopping Biden and whoever is running his administration from ‘going after guns.’
The Biden administration is aiming to increase the budget of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to $1.9 billion in fiscal year 2024. This proposed budget represents a $663 million increase in funding when compared to the end of the Obama administration’s fiscal year 2017 budget, the Daily Caller reported. The proposed budget comes as the Biden administration pursues various gun control measures, such as pistol stabilizer rules, ghost gun rules, and a “zero tolerance” policy for gun dealers.
It's time for Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
I led the fight to ban them in 1994, and we can do it again. pic.twitter.com/dBDEYuU8Rp
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 15, 2023
“Especially through the Department of Justice, and in particular with the ATF, this administration has declared all-out-war on the Second Amendment,” director of federal affairs for Second Amendment advocacy group Gun Owners of America (GOA), Aidan Johnston, told the outlet. “Whether it’s their demands for significant increases in funding for enforcement, by arbitrarily changing statutory definitions via executive fiat, or by implementing a zero tolerance policy to shutdown firearms dealers and expand an illegal gun registry, President Biden and his anti-gun cabal are doing everything they can to harass, discourage, and chip away at gun owners and the community as a whole.”
According to the budget proposal, Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget includes increased funding for the ATF to enhance its efforts to regulate the firearms industry, establish gun trafficking strike forces, enforce background checks, and implement the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The FBI will also receive $51 million to support the continued implementation of enhanced background checks required by the same act, in addition to the DOJ and ATF.
The ATF’s budget is set to increase by 35.7% or $500 million compared to its final year 2020 budget of $1.4 billion if the proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 is approved. This marks a year-over-year increase of $200 million or 13.6% compared to the fiscal year 2023 budget, the outlet reported.
“Instead of increasing its funding and power to ‘nearly $2 billion,’ Congress should cut ATF funding to pre-Biden Administration levels or lower,” Johnston told the DCNF. “Additionally, ATF should be made to exclusively focus on alcohol, tobacco, and explosives crimes and only be allowed to enforce firearms-related laws against violent criminals.”
Yep. You read that right—almost TWO BILLION for the ATF.
That’s a 13.6% increase over the 2023 budget. 🤯
If passed, the ATF would have grown 35.7% LARGER during the Biden presidency & 50.9% LARGER since the Obama Administration. pic.twitter.com/Vj76evbc9u
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) March 9, 2023
Since taking office, the Biden administration’s ATF has implemented a number of restrictive firearm measures. One of the most notable was the introduction of the “zero tolerance” policy for Federal Firearm License (FFL) gun dealers. This policy updated the language used to define what can be considered a “willful” violation, resulting in a significant increase in FFL revocations. Under previous guidance, the ATF “may” have revoked FFLs, while the new “zero tolerance” policy now states that the ATF “will” revoke FFLs for initial violations.
This has resulted in a 16-year high in FFL revocations, the outlet said.
