Latest news with #ATF
Gizmodo
20 hours ago
- Business
- Gizmodo
DOGE Gets the Green Light to Slash Gun Regulations at ATF
Elon Musk may be out of the picture, but the Department of Government Efficiency is still around and being deployed to terrorize the public servants at agencies across the federal government. The latest target: the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, where DOGE will be tasked with slashing gun restrictions, according to the Washington Post. DOGE staff (those who are left, at least, seeing as high-profile figures like Big Balls have tapped out of the operation) are reportedly being sent into the ATF with the goal of cutting or revising 47 gun regulations. That goal is apparently a reference to Trump being the 47th President of the United States, though the Washington Post reported that they are likely to blow past that figure and change more than 50 existing rules. No respect for regulations or symbolism. They have also been given a deadline of accomplishing this by July 4, because nothing would be a better gift to America for her birthday than easier access to firearms. Just from a process standpoint, it's always good to start with an arbitrary number and go looking to make cuts solely to meet that quota rather than because something actually needs changing. That's just smart governance, extremely efficient stuff. As to what those regulations are that will be changed, it's hard to say. The Post noted that the agency enforces hundreds of rules that help to dictate the way that firearms are bought, sold, and used in the country. The report floated the possibility that DOGE may change the rules on what types of guns can be imported and make licensing fees refundable. The pseudo-agency will also reportedly make changes to the mandated 4473 Form that gun buyers are required to fill out when purchasing a firearm, and sellers are required to keep in their records to help trace guns. The plan is to cut the form from seven pages down to three. How will they do that? By asking fewer questions of the gun buyer. Per the Post, questions that are currently seperate that ask things like whether a person has been committed to a mental institution, has been dishonorably discharged from the military, or has used illegal drugs will all just get smushed together into a single 'yes' or 'no' question as to whether a person is legally allowed to own a firearm. While DOGE is unleashed on the ATF's rule book, the Trump administration has been hacking away at the agency's size and purpose. The Department of Justice recently announced plans to cut the number of inspectors on its staff by two-thirds, significantly reducing the agency's ability to investigate businesses that sell guns to criminals. That doesn't go as far as other Republicans, who have introduced legislation to abolish the agency entirely. The Constitution still says 'well-regulated' in the Second Amendment, right? Or can DOGE cut that line?
Washington Post
a day ago
- Business
- Washington Post
DOGE enters ATF with mandate to slash gun regulations
The U.S. DOGE Service has sent staff to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with the goal of revising or eliminating dozens of rules and gun restrictions by July 4, according to multiple people with knowledge of the efforts, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that have not been made public. The initial target was to change 47 regulations, an apparent reference to Donald Trump's status as the 47th president of the United States, two of the people said. But ATF and DOGE staffers are now poised to exceed that goal, with upward of 50 changes planned. The revisions are part of a seismic shift unfolding at ATF as the Trump administration proposes slashing the law enforcement agency's budget and dramatically reducing the number of inspectors who ensure that gun sellers are in compliance with federal laws. Some Republicans in Congress have called for abolishing the agency altogether, and Attorney General Pam Bondi has said she wants to merge ATF with the Drug Enforcement Administration. If the plans are enacted, it would be a major win for pro-gun advocacy groups, who have long claimed ATF is an agency with too many gun regulations that tramples on Second Amendment rights. Gun-control advocates fear that the changes afoot at ATF will more easily allow potentially dangerous people to obtain weapons with little recourse. The exact scope and details of the potential changes are still being determined. ATF has hundreds of regulations, and revisions could include changing the responsibilities of certain ATF positions, updating what types of firearms can be imported, and making licensing fees refundable. 'As Attorney General Bondi has made clear, ATF is working hard to reduce regulatory red tape that burdens lawful gun owners and to ensure agents are doing real police work hunting down criminals and gang members — not knocking on the doors of lawful gun owners in the middle of the night,' said Chad Gil Martin, a spokesman for the Justice Department, which oversees ATF. The Trump administration-backed ATF general counsel, Robert Leider, an ardent Second Amendment advocate, is overseeing the changes at ATF while working with DOGE, the people said. He has shifted additional ATF attorneys to work on the changes. DOGE is a non-Cabinet agency originally launched by billionaire Elon Musk to carry out controversial cost-cutting efforts that have resulted in mass attempted layoffs and legal battles with mixed results. The agency has more recently begun pushing for policy and regulatory changes. In addition to dozens of regulation cuts, Leider and his team are planning to change the legally mandated 4473 Form that most buyers are required to fill out when purchasing a firearm, shrinking it from the current seven pages to as few as three pages. Gun sellers are required to keep the records and have them readily available if law enforcement needs them to trace a gun during a criminal investigation or if ATF inspectors visit to see if the seller is complying with federal laws. Gun rights proponents have complained that the form is too cumbersome and long, ripe for people to make mistakes. They accused the Biden administration of punitively punishing people for simple paperwork errors — allegations that the Biden administration has denied, pointing to public data that shows that fewer than 1 percent of the 130,000 or so licensed gun sellers and manufacturers got their licenses revoked between July 2021 and December 2024. People familiar with the potential changes said the form instructions would be truncated and that some of the questions to determine if a potential buyer is legally allowed to own a firearm may be condensed into one large 'yes' or 'no' question. For example, separate questions ask people to answer if they have been committed to a mental institution, have been dishonorably discharged from the military or are an unlawful user of drugs. These and others could be combined into one question under the potential changes, two people familiar with them said. The question asking if the potential buyer is a felon would remain a stand-alone question. Some people interviewed said they fear that the changes could lead to more inaccuracies — and may make it harder for prosecutors to be able to prove that someone intentionally lied when filling out the federal form to purchase a gun. In a high-profile case last June, a jury in Delaware convicted President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, for lying about his drug use when he filled out that federal form to purchase a gun. 'I know we are going to see changes to the 4473 and we are getting close, that's in process,' Larry Keane — the general counsel of National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms trade association — said on the 'Bearing Arms Cam & Co' podcast this week. 'People just need to be a little patient, give ATF chief counsel some time in dotting the I's and crossing the T's and the internal review that has to take place. But people will be pleased as we move forward, and I think we will see significant progress in correcting bad rulings.' Under the Justice Department's latest budget proposal, the Trump administration would slash 541 of ATF's more than 800 inspectors. Multiple people interviewed said that the current inspection workforce is already stretched thin and inspected fewer than 10 percent — or 9,696 — of businesses and people who hold licenses to sell, collect, import or manufacture firearms. There is no federal requirement for how often a gun store or manufacturer must be inspected. But inspectors typically visit a dealer if an abnormal number of crimes are committed with guns that come from a specific store or if a large number of crimes are committed by people who newly purchased guns from a single place. Inspectors may also visit a seller or manufacturer if they haven't had an inspection in years. Inspectors are allowed to make unannounced visits to license holders only during business hours. People familiar with ATF said that, with just a few hundred inspectors, there would probably be few firearm-related inspections. Federal law requires that explosive sites be inspected at least once every three years. There are currently around 9,000 federal explosive licensees, which means that the remaining 350 or so inspectors would be responsible for inspecting 3,000 explosive sites each year. Gun-control advocacy groups said that there would be few resources left to dedicate to firearm inspections. They fear that gun sellers and manufacturers would have little incentive to be diligent with their recordkeeping, which they said could make it harder to trace firearms involved in crimes. They said these records can be crucial in identifying gun traffickers. 'The Administration seems hell-bent on ushering in a golden age for gun criminals, gutting the only agency specifically tasked with keeping communities safe from gun violence,' John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun-control advocacy group, said in a statement to The Washington Post. 'These cuts would be a dream come true for gun traffickers, straw purchasers, and unscrupulous gun dealers — and a nightmare for law enforcement and public safety.' Adam Skaggs, chief counsel and vice president of Giffords Law Center, another gun-control advocacy group, agreed: 'The administration claims to support law enforcement and care about fighting crime, but they are proposing the most radical defunding of the police we have ever seen from the federal government,' Skaggs said. Trump has yet to nominate a permanent ATF director, and the administration has pushed out many of its top career staffers, including the second-most-powerful person at the agency. The administration also booted the agency's longtime general counsel, making it a political position and hiring Leider. In late February, Trump said that Kash Patel, the FBI director, would at least temporarily lead ATF — a surprise announcement that put Patel atop two major law enforcement agencies with distinct mandates. More than six weeks into his job, The Post reported that Patel had shown up at ATF headquarters only once and had scant communication with senior staffers at agency. The administration then replaced Patel in early April with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who holds the two roles simultaneously.
Fox News
2 days ago
- Fox News
Illegal immigrant who enrolled in Ohio high school claiming to be a teenager hit with federal gun charges
A federal grand jury returned a four-count indictment against 24-year-old Anthony Emmanuel Labrador Sierra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who was residing in Perrysburg, Ohio, where he also attended high school claiming to be a teenager until last month. The grand jury returned the indictment this week, charging Labrador Sierra with possession of a firearm by an alien who is in the U.S. unlawfully, making a false statement while purchasing a firearm, and making or using false documents, the DOJ said in a news release. The indictment alleges that Labrador Sierra submitted a false date of birth to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on federal applications to acquire Temporary Protective Status and Employment Authorization Documents in 2024 and 2025. The suspect also allegedly possessed a Taurus G3C 9mm semiautomatic pistol, which he was not allowed to have, since he was in the U.S. illegally, and the DOJ alleges that Labrador Sierra submitted false information to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to purchase the firearm. He allegedly provided false statements on a federal form to purchase the firearm and made statements to deceive the licensed firearms dealer at the point of sale. For example, the indictment alleges that Labrador Sierra said he was not a U.S. citizen or national; was not illegally or unlawfully in the U.S.; and was not an alien who entered the U.S. under a non-immigrant visa. If Labrador Sierra is convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison for possessing a firearm as an illegal alien. He could also face 10 years in prison for making a false statement while purchasing a firearm and up to five years in prison for making or using false documents or writings. Earlier, court documents showed that Labrador Sierra had been charged with forgery after he allegedly enrolled in a public high school using fraudulent documents. The Perrysburg Police Department said last month that it had been contacted by the Perrysburg Local Schools about possible fraudulent activity involving one of its students. A fraud case was ultimately established and handed over to the department's detectives for further investigation. Detectives worked with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and it was discovered that Labrador was a 24-year-old from Venezuela. Investigators also learned that Labrador Sierra had used fraudulent documents to enroll in Perrysburg Schools and was posing as a 16-year-old student. Perrysburg School officials said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital that Labrador Sierra had been enrolled at Perrysburg High School under the name and age of a 16-year-old unaccompanied minor on Jan. 11, 2024, in accordance with federal and state requirements for enrolling students experiencing homelessness or without a legal guardian. Between Jan. 11, 2024, and May 14, 2025, the school said, Labrador Sierra obtained documentation and support, further complicating the situation. For instance, he obtained a state-issued driver's license, social security number and Temporary Protective Status (TPS) from U.S. Immigration. The school also said that Labrador had completed an application for a visa with help from Advocating Opportunities, which provides free legal assistance. The Wood County Juvenile Court granted guardianship of Labrador Sierra to a Perrysburg family. School officials said the guardians had contacted the school on May 14 to report that they had received information indicating Labrador Sierra was not a minor, but instead a 24-year-old man. Labrador Sierra reportedly denied the allegation when district administrators met with him on May 15. The school district issued a statement shortly after his arrest, noting that Labrador Sierra had been a member of the junior varsity soccer and swim teams. Labrador Sierra was ultimately taken into custody during a traffic stop on Interstate 75 on Tuesday afternoon. DHS told Fox News they have located Labrador Sierra's information under a different spelling of his name. They added that Labrador Sierra is a visa overstay who first came to the U.S. in 2019. DHS also confirmed that Labrador Sierra has received TPS.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
'We're throwing them in jails': Bondi's fiery clash with Reed on Mexican cartel arms flow
Bondi pushed back hard against Democratic criticism, declaring, 'We're not sending people back to Mexico with guns, we're throwing them in jail.' She cited recent ATF data showing nearly 9,700 firearms intercepted since Trump's return to office on January 20th, underscoring the administration's aggressive strategy to stop deadly weapons from reaching Mexican gangs. Show more Show less
Economic Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Economic Times
'We're throwing them in jails': Bondi's fiery clash with Reed on Mexican cartel arms flow
Bondi pushed back hard against Democratic criticism, declaring, 'We're not sending people back to Mexico with guns, we're throwing them in jail.' She cited recent ATF data showing nearly 9,700 firearms intercepted since Trump's return to office on January 20th, underscoring the administration's aggressive strategy to stop deadly weapons from reaching Mexican gangs. Show more 15:49 03:01 01:42 01:58 09:00 01:44 03:46 05:33 02:55 12:00 11:58 05:28 10:42 10:51 09:08 18:43 03:05 05:21 02:27 03:02 03:02 01:31 04:10 09:48 02:34 04:33 13:00 09:21 07:21 08:54 11:46
