The Republican 2026 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies funding bill released this week severely cuts the ATF's budget while installing several restrictions on how the agency operates.
The House Appropriations Committee on Monday made public the 154-page text of the proposed funding bill for several government agencies, including the country's gun regulator.
Among the tenets of the bill as related to the ATF:
ATF's budget is set at $1.2 billion, a decrease of $418 million below the fiscal year 2025 enacted level by Congress during the Biden Administration. This would force the agency to reduce its workforce by more than 1,000 positions, according to a statement by Committee Democrats. Last year, Dems argued the agency should have a $2 billion budget.
Only 40 percent of the funding will be made available to the ATF "unless processing times for National Firearms Act applications do not exceed 120 days in the case of paper applications and 60 days in the case of electronic applications."
No funds "may be used to transfer the functions, missions, or activities of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to other agencies or departments," effectively killing a controversial proposed merger of the agency with the DEA.
No funds made available to ATF can be used to "classify, tax, or register any firearm with an attached ‘stabilizing brace' or other similar brace or rearward attachment."
None of the funds "may be used to create, operate, or maintain a Federal firearms registry."
No funds can be used to support lawsuits against any FFL or person subject to firearms regulation unless ATF is directly named as a party. This short-circuits possible future collaboration in lawsuits against firearms industry members by anti-gun groups and Democrat-run cities, such as what was seen against Glock under the Biden Administration.
None of the funds may be used to "fund or implement any red flag or extreme risk protection order laws," or "implement any statute, rule, policy, or interpretive guidance," that effectively does the same. This could upend federally funded efforts to enact such gun seizure laws in states, which were funded under 2022's rushed Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
None of the funds can go to supporting the ATF's Out of Business Records Imaging System (OBRIS) database, which now has over 1 billion records from former FFLs. The database has long been controversial, with even the Government Accountability Office pointing out that ATF has had problems meeting the restrictions on its use.
No funds can be allocated to enforce the ATF's "Frame or Receiver" final rule, adopted during the Biden Administration, which bans approximately 80 percent of kits.
No funds can go to enforce the fuzzy Biden-era "Engaged in the Business" rule on selling guns without an FFL.
Requires ATF, "in all but the most extraordinary circumstances," to refrain from revoking or suspending a Federal Firearms License for initial violations without at least first issuing a warning letter, working with cooperative licensees to rectify violations in a reasonable time frame, and holding a final warning conference.
A list of changes on how the ATF's Demand 2 program, begun during the anti-gun Clinton administration, is run. The program has been used to “name-and-shame” firearm retailers who had an arbitrary number of guns recovered at a crime scene. Changes include that the "time-to-crime" was less than three years, and that every trace is part of an active criminal investigation and not, for instance, just a found gun.
No funds are to be used to move the ATF's Canine Division from Front Royal, Virginia, to another location. It has long been planned to spend more than $40 million to move the division to Huntsville, Alabama.
The bill is scheduled to be considered for markup by the committee on Tuesday.
