# Plain Language Summary: Brian A. Terry Memorial Eliminate the ATF Act

This bill would completely shut down the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and transfer its responsibilities to the Department of Justice. The ATF is the federal agency that currently enforces gun laws, regulates firearms dealers, investigates explosives crimes, and manages alcohol and tobacco taxes. Under this bill, all of these functions would move to the Justice Department instead, and the ATF as a separate agency would cease to exist 180 days after the bill becomes law.

Before the ATF is abolished, the bill requires several preparatory steps. Any new regulations the ATF issued starting in August 2020 would be canceled and have no legal effect. The agency would be frozen from hiring any new employees. The bill also requires the ATF to publish a list of all confiscated firearms and ammunition it holds and sell them at public auction to licensed gun dealers. Current ATF employees would receive notice that their jobs will be terminated on the abolishment date.

The bill makes significant changes to gun regulations by removing several firearm restrictions. It eliminates references to certain gun prohibitions in existing federal law, effectively loosening restrictions on who can own firearms. Additionally, the bill provides compensation to families of border patrol agents killed in "Operation Fast and Furious," a controversial ATF operation from 2009-2011 where the agency lost track of thousands of guns it had allowed to be sold to suspected straw purchasers.

The practical effect would be substantial: gun enforcement would shift from a specialized agency focused on firearms to the broader Justice Department, potentially reducing the resources dedicated to gun crime investigations. Existing gun regulations would be weakened in several areas, and the federal government would auction off thousands of seized weapons to licensed dealers rather than destroying them.

Brian A. Terry Memorial Eliminate the ATF Act

Greene, Marjorie Taylor

Brian A. Terry Memorial Eliminate the ATF Act This bill abolishes the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and transfers its authorities, functions, personnel, and assets to the Department of Justice (DOJ). It also transfers authorities, functions, personnel, and assets of the Department of the Treasury's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to DOJ. Additionally, the bill establishes the Border Patrol Agent Killed in Action Trust Fund. Amounts in the fund shall be made available for purposes of (1) providing grants to the surviving spouse, child, or parent of a U.S. Border Patrol agent killed in the line of duty on or after December 1, 2009; and (2) awarding grants to states for establishing firearm safety programs.