White House Accuses GOP of Helping Mexican Drug Cartels by Cutting Funding to Federal Gun Control Agency

By Alex Seitz-Wald – NBC News

The White House has opened a new line of attack against Republicans by saying that cutting funding to the federal gun control agency, a demand made by former President Donald Trump to his party, would strengthen the Mexican drug cartels that traffic fentanyl and other drugs to the United States.

As part of conservative lawmakers’ efforts to cut federal spending, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), a constant target of gun advocates, is at risk of that its budget is lowered or even be closed.

The White House is trying to convince the Republicans to continue supporting the ATF -even though they accuse the Democrats of being anti-police and soft on crime-, alleging that they are the ones who now want to “defund” the Department of Justice, just as Trump said Tuesday hours after he was arrested.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates told NBC News in a statement that Republicans are trying to thwart Biden’s effort to keep guns out of the hands of drug dealers.

“MAGA Republican Extremism [el eslogan de Trump] in Congress is a growing threat to the fight against violent crime and the fentanyl trade. The president is working hard to prevent the flow of firearms into the hands of drug cartels, as part of a strategy to block the entry of fentanyl. But hard-wing congressmen from the MAGA party are doing everything they can to thwart these efforts,” he said.

[Un informe federal revela que cada vez transcurre menos tiempo desde la compra de un arma hasta que se usa en un crimen]

Investigators and government officials on both sides of the border have long tried to stop the so-called Iron Pipeline of US weapons, often assault rifles, through which firearms are smuggled into Mexico that are difficult to acquire legally. According to data from the Biden Administration, up to 70% of the weapons confiscated by Mexican security forces come from the United States.

“MAGA Republicans in Congress are trying to defund and abolish the ATF, the federal law enforcement agency responsible for helping stop the flow of firearms into the hands of gun dealers,” Bates stressed, “guns US-bought assault rifles are arming drug cartels and allowing them to outmaneuver law enforcement.”

Opposition from gun advocacy groups and Republicans has left the ATF without a permanent director for more than seven years. Biden’s pick, Steven Dettelbach, was confirmed last year. The agency is at the center of the president’s strategy to use executive power and crack down on illegal guns, as any chance of getting legislation was dashed when Republicans seized control of the House of Representatives.

That has also made the ATF a bigger target for many gun rights supporters. In a congressional hearing last month titled The ATF assault on the Second Amendment: When is enough?Republican lawmakers have vented their anger over a new rule on gun mounts and called for the agency’s dismantlement or elimination.

[Preocupación por el récord de armas interceptadas en controles de seguridad de los aeropuertos de EE.UU. en 2022]

“I hope that we can act to end this ATF overreach, and I would suggest that the most effective approach is to reduce funding or, better yet, eliminate all funding. And even better, eliminate this agency,” he said in his speech Opening was Rep. Andy Biggs, Republican of Arizona and Chairman of the Government’s Crime and Enforcement Judiciary Subcommittee.

Conservative representatives such as Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, have sponsored legislation to abolish the ATF. Gaetz’s bill says simply: “The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is hereby abolished.” Before the House of Representatives, he stated that the ATF “should be the name of a convenience store chain in Florida, not a federal agency.”

Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, R-Colorado, who once owned a restaurant called Shooters Grill where the waiters openly carried firearms, agreed with the proposal, saying she was still “waiting to hear a good reason why ATF should continue to be a agency”.

Some, like Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Missouri, have suggested going even further and defunding the ATF, as well as scrapping the National Firearms Act, the agency’s main legal authority.

The ATF has been the target of attacks by pro-gun activists since its inception in 1972, especially after scandals such as the deadly clashes in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas, in the 1990s, and the scandal Fast and Furious from the early 2000s.

Then-President Ronald Reagan came close to killing off the ATF in the 1980s, until his allies in the gun movement concluded that it would be worse than a more powerful agency like the FBI or Secret Service. , assume their responsibilities because the laws that empower the ATF would still have to be applied by someone.

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“They’re easy scapegoats because, unlike the FBI, they don’t have a lot of support in the country,” said Richard Feldman, a former NRA and industry lobbyist. of firearms. Recognizing that dynamic, some on the left have suggested merging the ATF with the FBI.

Today, the abolition of the ATF divides the arms movement. While smaller groups like Gun Owners of America and the Firearms Policy Coalition sell merchandise with the slogan “Abolish the ATF,” the National Sports Shooting Foundation—the trade association for the firearms industry—does not support disbanding the ATF. agency.

The NRA, in a statement sent to NBC News, called for the ATF to be reined in, but stopped short of explicitly saying it should be disbanded.

“Frustrated by their lack of progress restricting Americans’ Second Amendment rights, Biden’s Justice Department has decided to use the ATF as a tool to harass the law-abiding gun user community. of the nation,” he said.

“The high-handed approach taken by ATF toward enforcement actions and rulemaking is evidence of this revenge. And, while with the new House majority, ATF will no longer be able to operate without control and will be subject to Congressional oversight, the NRA looks forward to working with pro-Second Amendment legislators to rein in this rogue agency.”