Attorney General Pamela Bondi on Monday defended a Trump administration proposal to eliminate the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a major shakeup experts say would likely require congressional action to implement.
The Justice Department in a fiscal 2026 budget request has outlined a plan to merge ATF functions into the Drug Enforcement Administration, which would remain a single component. Bondi got questions about the plan during a House Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations subcommittee hearing.
Groups on both sides of the gun debate have found rare agreement in opposing the plan, though for different reasons. Gun control advocates say it will weaken enforcement, while one prominent gun owner rights organization called the merger idea an “abomination” that would “create a taxpayer-funded super agency to target gun owners.”
