GIFFORDS: Trump move weakens ATF, waters down gun law enforcement
Reassigning ATF agents to police immigration would detract from mission to keep Americans safe from gun crime
WASHINGTON — Today, GIFFORDS, the national gun violence prevention organization founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, condemned the Trump administration’s decision to burden and dilute federal law enforcement agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), with additional duties “to help carry out deportations.” The Department of Justice will reportedly lend agents to the Department of Homeland Security, further weakening the already stretched workforce charged with protecting Americans by fighting gun crime. A central cause of immigration driving the border crisis is firearm violence fueled by guns trafficked from the United States into Mexico and Latin America.
The new assignment is likely to detract from the ATF’s core mission of stopping violent crime. As the Wall Street Journal reported, “The ATF and DEA have historically not been involved in immigration enforcement, either, except where there are other gun or drug-trafficking violations. Officials in these agencies have long complained that they are already strapped for resources they need for their core missions of fighting violent crime and drug enforcement, and policing immigration violations would add more to their plates.”
“Let’s be clear: The ATF is the only federal law enforcement agency that exists to stop violent crime. If President Trump redeployed those agents, he would weaken public safety and American families would pay the price,” said GIFFORDS Executive Director Emma Brown. “Gun homicides skyrocketed by 34% in Trump’s first term, and guns became the number one killer of children and adolescents. It’s only week one and the president is already setting the stage for further increases in gun violence. We can’t afford to take our eye off the ball, but that’s exactly what Donald Trump is doing.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s allies in Congress and the gun lobby have laid out an agenda that guts federal law enforcement and weakens efforts to combat gun crime. Twenty-eight House Republicans signed onto an extreme bill to abolish the ATF without reassigning its responsibilities elsewhere. The move to abolish the ATF is supported by radical gun lobby organizations like American Firearms Association, National Association for Gun Rights, and Gun Owners of America, which believes all gun laws and background checks are unconstitutional.
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