On Monday, Congressman Matt Gaetz (FL-01), joined by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14), led a Congressional Accountability Field Hearing on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in Shalimar, Florida.
Rep. Gaetz and Rep. Greene conducted the hearing to highlight ATF’s weaponization and heightened targeting of Federal Firearms Licensees (FFL). During the Field Hearing, Rep. Gaetz announced a letter the members sent to House Appropriations Chair Kay Granger (TX-12), promising to use the Holman Rule to defund the Office of the Director of the ATF in the next available appropriations period.
Video of the ATF Accountability Hearing can be found HERE. Additionally, the letter can be found HERE and exclusive coverage of the letter by The Daily Caller can be found HERE.
LETTER:
Dear Chairwoman Granger,
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has been weaponized against the American people by a radical, anti-Second Amendment Biden Administration. The leadership at the ATF has proven unable or unwilling to see that the ATF respect the rule of law and not act where congress has not legislated. Instead, the ATF abuses its rule making authority, legislating through the executive and making a mockery of the separation of powers mandated by the Constitution.
The ATF has even made it a matter of official policy to shut down gun stores by making perfection the standard in record keeping – a standard the ATF itself could not meet. Since the Biden Administration has announced its new “zero tolerance” policy in 2021, Federal Firearms Licensees have faced the highest revocation rate in 16 years. This policy has effectively become the death penalty for even the most innocent of clerical errors.
The ATF has shown itself incapable of operating within the confines of its statutory authority, and we must force a change. Hence, I write to inform you that I intend to use the Holman Rule to defund the Office of the Director of the ATF in the next available appropriations period.
Sincerely,
Matt Gaetz
Member of Congress
Marjorie Taylor Greene
Member of Congress
