President Joe Biden‘s budgetary proposal for fiscal 2024 recommends a staggering $1.9 billion figure to fund the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, marking a massive increase to the agency amid additional proposals to further regulate guns across the nation.
The proposal, which is listed on page 40, came as Biden signed an executive order this week seeking to curb gun violence by increasing background checks across the country. It also comes on the heels of the ATF’s attempts to implement rules such as banning stabilizing pistol braces, a crackdown on “ghost guns,” and implementing “zero-tolerance” policies for federal firearms dealers.
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In comparison to the fiscal 2023 budget, Biden’s proposal would increase funding for the ATF by nearly $200 million, or 13.6%, if it were approved. It would also mark a 50% increase since the fiscal 2017 budget under former President Barack Obama.
Gun rights groups such as Gun Owners of America, which includes more than 2.2 million members, lambasted Biden’s proposal as fueling a “war against American gun owners” and is urging Congress to “cut ATF funding to pre-Biden administration levels or lower.”
“For too long, ATF has abused its authority to persecute otherwise law-abiding gun owners who have committed non-violent offenses — such as having a barrel that is too short. ATF’s abuse of gun rights must stop,” GOA published in a March 10 statement.
White House officials say the increased ATF funding would contribute toward regulating the firearms industry, creating gun trafficking strike forces, and enforcing background checks.
The House Freedom Caucus, whose members make up some of the most conservative figures in the GOP, released a budget proposal last week that calls for ending the “unconstitutional ‘pistol brace’ ATF rule,” which begins enforcement in May and requires gun owners to register stabilizing devices.
However, any Freedom Caucus proposal would have trouble passing the slim majority the GOP has in the House, let alone the Senate, which maintains a 51-49 Democratic majority. Meanwhile, Republicans in the Senate introduced the Respect for the Second Amendment Act, which aims to codify key decisions held by the Supreme Court protecting the right to bear arms for law-abiding citizens.
“We’re giving individual Americans the right to sue under the law we’re introducing today if governmental organizations or other organizations come after your … Second Amendment rights,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of the bill’s sponsors, said Thursday.
Biden’s executive order was signed in tandem with his visit to California’s Monterey Bay, the site of a deadly mass shooting over the Lunar New Year.
As the president mulls a 2024 reelection announcement, he has routinely ramped up calls for Congress to legislate universal background checks and reinstate the 1994 ban on assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines.
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The Biden administration proposals also come as public polling shows a stark rise in the number of U.S. residents who say they are dissatisfied with U.S. gun laws.
A Gallup poll from February showed 63% of U.S. residents are dissatisfied with federal gun laws, while just 34% said they were satisfied with federal firearm policy, marking a record low for the survey.
