Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) introduced a bill on Tuesday that aims to prevent the Internal Revenue Service from owning or controlling any firearms or ammunition.
In an exclusive statement to the Washington Examiner, Ernst said, “The taxman is fully loaded and funded by the taxpayer.”
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The new bill from the Iowa senator would prohibit any funds from being used by the IRS to buy, sell, or store ammunition or firearms of any kind, as of 120 days after its enacted.
It would also require the IRS commissioner to transfer all ammunition and firearms that are owned or under the control of the service to the administrator of the General Services Administration.
Afterward, the administrator will be tasked with selling or auctioning off firearms and ammunition, depositing any proceeds in the Treasury to be used for the reduction of the federal deficit.
“It’s concerning how the Biden administration has worked to expand the size of the IRS, and even more concerning that the IRS is using taxpayer dollars to arms its agents,” the senator continued in her statement.
“I’m working to disarm the IRS to prevent any further weaponization of this federal agency. It’s time to end this abuse of power and tax dollars,” she said.
The IRS has notably spent more than $35 million on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment since 2006, including $10 million in weaponry and gear since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, according to an OpenSecrets report.
The findings have prompted some to question why the IRS needs this type of weaponry at all.
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In 2021, President Joe Biden announced a proposal to expand the IRS, hiring 87,000 new employees throughout the next 10 years and increase funding by $80 billion for the service. The new funding was solidified with Biden’s signing of the Inflation Reduction Act.
However, Republicans were able to secure a cut of $1.4 billion from the service that was granted in the law. During debt ceiling negotiations with the White House, Republicans also successfully bargained to divert $20 billion from the IRS over the next two years to different nondefense programs.
