Marjorie Taylor Greene Moves to Dismantle ATF

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is certainly a controversial figure in the House of Representatives. Some in the pro-gun community might even say she’s as controversial at the ATF. Others might say she’s more so, but it doesn’t matter. 

Honestly, Greene has said some stuff that landed her in pretty hot water, but now she’s saying something that a lot of people on this side of the aisle are just going to love.

She’s talking about abolishing the ATF.

Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is looking to get rid of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), in an effort to protect gun owners from a “tyrannical, power hungry group of bureaucrats.”

Greene, a staunch advocate for Second Amendment rights, introduced legislation on Thursday that would abolish the ATF and repeal regulations and guidance issued after August 2020. The legislation comes as Republicans push back on Dave Chipman, President Joe Biden‘s nominee to head the ATF, who they see as a threat to the right to own firearms.

The legislation, as reported by The Daily Caller, would abolish the ATF six months after the bill is enacted. It would also require President Joe Biden to inform every employee of the ATF in writing of the abolishment date.

Along with making the ATF a defunct agency, Greene’s legislation would set up an auction for the firearms and ammunition the ATF confiscated. Greene’s looking to use the proceeds from the auction to create a fund for families of Border Patrol officers killed in the line of duty after December 1, 2009, according to the Daily Caller. After providing grants of up to $150,000 per family affected, remaining funds would go to states who establish firearm safety programs.

Honestly, this is just glorious.

It’s not going to happen, of course, but it’s glorious.

First, let’s talk about just why it won’t happen. I mean, look at the makeup of Congress. This is the kind of Congress least likely to pass legislation like this. Yet even if there were a GOP majority, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find enough Republicans that would back a bill like this. They may not like how the ATF conducts business, but the ATF is responsible for more than just firearms, and some of that is going to be stuff that they’ll figure needs to be enforced.

But that doesn’t change how much I’m going to enjoy this one.

See, Greene’s bill is mostly virtue-signaling, it’s just virtue-signaling that we like. However, that’s not all it is. Perhaps the best part is that this will put many of the people who are talking about defunding the police in a position where they’re going to have to defend a law enforcement agency. They hate the cops, yet they’ll now have to defend the cops.

After all, the “defund the police” crowd overlaps heavily with the gun control crowd. The Venn diagram isn’t quite a single circle, but pretty close., which means Greene’s bill puts them in a position of either agreeing with her–and absolutely no one in either crowd wants to do that–or they have to defend the ATF.

For gun grabbers, that’s not a big deal. For the “defund the police” crowd, though, well, that’s a different matter entirely.

So, despite the fact that this bill will never pass or even make it out of committee, it might be the savviest move Greene has made during her short career in the House. I doubt it’ll erase memories of some of her past issues, but it’s still brilliant.

Plus, frankly, it’s always good to go on the offensive instead of playing defense all the time.

Marjorie Taylor Greene Moves to Dismantle ATF – Bearing Arms