By Steve Neavling
Attorney General Pamela Bondi on Monday defended a controversial Trump administration proposal to eliminate the ATF and merge its functions into the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The plan, outlined in the Justice Department’s fiscal 2026 budget request, would represent a major restructuring of federal law enforcement and is likely to require congressional approval, Roll Call reports. Bondi fielded questions about the proposal during a House Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations subcommittee hearing.
Gun control advocates and gun rights groups alike have criticized the idea, though for different reasons. Critics on the left say the merger would weaken gun enforcement, while a prominent pro-gun group called the move an “abomination” that would create a “taxpayer-funded super agency to target gun owners.”
Bondi said combining the two agencies would improve efficiency and reflect existing collaboration.
“Guns and drugs go together,” she told lawmakers. “They’re working hand-in-hand on task forces already. Now, they will be working under one umbrella, and it’s going to be great for our country.”
She added: “Bureaucracy has been around for a very long time, and just because things have been done one way for decades and decades doesn’t mean that is the most efficient way to do them in the future.”
The Trump administration’s broader budget plan also proposes deep cuts to salaries and expenses across several DOJ components. Bondi said the ATF would be reorganized but pushed back on concerns about federal overreach.
“We will not be having ATF agents go to the doors of gun owners in the middle of the night, asking them about their guns — period,” she said. “They will be out on the streets with [the] DEA.”
Democrats questioned how the agency could function with a proposed 26% cut. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., pointed out the budget would eliminate 541 ATF industry operations investigators, reducing inspections by 40 percent, along with 186 agents and 284 support personnel.
“So you’re going to merge the two agencies together, and then you’re going to shortchange their resources so neither one of them will be able to do the job that they have been designed to do,” DeLauro said.
A Justice Department budget document argued the merger would improve efficiency by eliminating duplication and reducing overhead.
