Wisconsin Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner and co-sponsors Steve Stockman and Reid Ribble have proposed a bill to abolish the the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).
Sensenbrenner said that the ATF is redundant, that it “lacks a clear mission” and that its functions ought to be transferred to the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), The Blaze reports.
The ATF, a branch of Attorney General Eric Holder’s Department of Justice, has most recently come under fire for Operation Fast and the Furious, an ATF operation that put 2,000 guns into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.
The ATF had intended to track the weapons, but after the murder of a Border Patrol agent one of the ATF guns was found near the scene. The resulting scandal forced the ATF to admit that it had lost track of hundreds of weapons.
Sensenbrenner’s bill enumerates what he sees as the ATF’s major flaws: “It is plagued by backlogs, funding gaps, hiring challenges and a lack of leadership,” he said. “For decades it has been branded by high profile failures. There is also significant overlap with other agencies.”
“At a time when we are approaching $18 trillion in debt, waste and redundancy within our federal agencies must be addressed,” he added. “Without a doubt, we can fulfill the role of the ATF more efficiently.”
The proposed legislation would give those ATF functions relevant to firearms, arson and explosives to the FBI, and those pertaining to alcohol and tobacco to the DEA.