President Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget proposal includes $1.9 billion for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), an increase of millions of dollars over last year’s budget.
The proposal comes in the face of increased scrutiny of the ATF’s efforts to further regulate firearms, which include a ban on handgun stabilizer brackets, a “zero tolerance” policy for federal firearms dealers and the introduction of a number of controversial rules. about “phantom weapons”.
If approved, Biden’s budget would increase ATF funding by about $200 million, or 13.6%, over the fiscal year 2023 budget. It also represents an increase of $663 million, or 50%, from former President Obama’s last fiscal year 2017 budget.
This 2008 photo shows weapons seized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and placed on a table at the bureau’s headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. (Reuters)
The White House said the additional funding would go toward further regulating the arms industry, including implementing the Bilateral Secure Communities Act, creating an arms-trafficking strike force, and conducting background checks.
NO, BIDEN’S BUDGET IS NOT “WACKO” REAGAN’S.
President Biden speaks on the progress of the administration’s economic agenda on February 3, 2023 at the Belmont Water Treatment Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (via ENDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP Getty Images)
Republican lawmakers have taken steps to combat the ATF regulations, including introducing legislation that would expand the rights of gun owners nationwide, such as protecting the gun rights of full-time travelers.
Some lawmakers also demanded that ATF Director Stephen Dettelbach testify before the House Judiciary Committee about the agency’s efforts to implement the new rules.
ECONOMIST WARNS BEDEN’S BUDGET PROPOSAL IS A ‘FISCAL MONSTER’: ‘WORST BUDGET I’VE SEEN.’
“ATF’s lack of transparency comes after the agency issued a final rule banning the stabilization of handgun stocks, and the agency continues to shut out legitimate businesses through its “zero tolerance” policy for federal firearms dealers (FFLs),” said Jim. Jordan, R-Ohio, and Thomas Massey, R-Ky., in a letter to Dettelbach earlier this month.
Steve Dettelbach, then President Biden’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), speaks during an event on gun violence in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 11, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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In addition to ATF funding, Biden’s $6.9 trillion budget proposal has drawn sharp criticism from congressional Republicans, with some calling it a “jolly voodoo bill.”
