Screenshot DOJ FY 2026 budget proposal page 11
In a massive restructuring move under the Trump administration’s ongoing government overhaul, the U.S. Department of Justice announced plans to eliminate over 1,000 positions at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)—including more than 500 industry operations investigators (IOIs), the very people tasked with conducting compliance inspections of licensed gun dealers.
The plan, outlined in the DOJ’s FY 2026 budget proposal, marks the most significant gutting of the ATF in modern history. The agency is being dissolved as a standalone entity and merged into the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as part of a broader effort to “reduce duplicative functions and infrastructure.”
A Victory for Accountability & FFL Relief
For America’s 60,000+ Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs), the news comes as a long-awaited reprieve. The same investigators being let go are the ones responsible for suspending or revoking licenses over minor clerical errors—sometimes a missed date or a transposed digit on a 4473 form. Under the Biden-era “zero tolerance” policy, these errors were enough to put family-run gun shops out of business.
The downsizing also saves taxpayers an estimated $82 million specifically from reductions in regulatory inspections, and $354 million overall from staffing cuts that include both IOIs and other support personnel.
Streamlining, Not Defunding
Despite predictable outcry from gun control groups, this isn’t about weakening law enforcement—it’s about reining in bureaucratic overreach. The functions of the ATF that are mandated by law, such as explosive materials tracking and tracing crime guns, will continue. But the power to overregulate and overpenalize law-abiding gun dealers is being scaled back in a serious way.
The Trump administration argues that the DEA, with its broader infrastructure and more focused law enforcement mission, is better positioned to handle firearms-related crime enforcement without the regulatory excesses that defined the ATF in recent years.
Reform or Abolish?
While some members of Congress, including Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Eric Burlison (R-MO), have introduced legislation to abolish the ATF entirely, this merger may achieve much of the same goal through administrative means.
By merging the ATF into the DEA, the DOJ avoids the political brawl of total abolition while still gutting the core of the agency’s regulatory power. Many gun rights advocates see this as a smarter, quieter way to neutralize what they view as a hostile and constitutionally questionable agency.
What It Means for Gun Owners
This shift signals a new era. Fewer compliance inspections mean fewer chances for FFLs to be punished for paperwork errors. It also means a pullback from the aggressive regulatory tactics of the last administration, which targeted everything from pistol braces to solvent traps.
While some critics argue that eliminating ATF inspectors could open loopholes for criminals, Second Amendment supporters say the real criminals were never stopped by inspections anyway, and that the real target was always the small-town gun shop.
As DOJ continues its internal restructuring, one thing is clear: the tide is turning. With a Trump-appointed leadership team at the helm and a major reduction in anti-gun bureaucrats, gun owners are seeing a rare and significant policy win.
One Agency Down—More Work to Do
The merging of ATF into DEA is being called historic. But for many in the firearms community, it’s just the beginning.
“One down, a thousand more to go,” as one industry insider quipped. And for now, FFLs and gun owners across the country can breathe a little easier.
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