ATF Has Concerns Over Proposed Merger with DEA

The DEA has a long history of trampling on people’s civil liberties in the War on Drugs. The ATF has a long history of trampling on people’s civil liberties in the War on Freedom.

On paper, it should be a match made in Heaven or Hell, depending on your perspective.

Either way, I would have thought that while the ATF would prefer to remain independent, merging with the DEA wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world from their perspective. After all, more money would seem like a good thing.

But as Lee Williams notes at The Gun Writer–are you subscribed to it? You should be, because pretty much everything he does is a banger–he notes that they’ve got concerns.

The ATF and the DEA were told just last month that the Justice Department plans to merge both agencies, which sources say could occur by October 1.

Officially, no one is talking about the merger, which would likely require congressional approval.

Unofficially, the ATF is going a bit nuts.

“ATF leadership is trying to fight this and convince everyone it’s not a good idea to merge the two organizations,” said John “JC” Clark of FFL Consultants.

Clark is former law enforcement and a former corporate compliance officer. The firm he cofounded, FFL Consultants, trains hundreds of gun dealers each month and thousands annually, virtually and in person. Few understand ATF’s innerworkings better than Clark and his team.

The proposed ATF/DEA merger is something few want to discuss. Both agencies seem difficult to combine, since each has different missions and rules. Both have an industry and a criminal enforcement side, although the DEA relies heavily on the pharmaceutical industry to regulate itself.

Very few want to discuss the merger, even retirees.

“Anybody that’s retired has said they’re so happy they’re retired,” Clark said.

Clark also said that most of the ATF wasn’t happy with how things worked under the Biden regime in the first place. They figured the zero tolerance policy hurt them, but it was to either go along with it or be out of a job.

I can sort of see that. They might not be great about the right to keep and bear arms, but there’s a line that was clearly crossed when you’re having to yank FFLs over ridiculously minor paperwork issues–an often cited example was someone abbreviating the county name–and then earning the ire of an entire community of Americans.

It doesn’t make their job any easier when we’re viewing them with a lot more hostility.

As for the merger, I have concerns myself. For once, I have a level of agreement with the ATF about something.

I need a shower just thinking about it.

For what it’s worth, I do understand the Trump administration’s thinking on this. They want the ATF and DEA merged and fighting the cartels, who smuggle drugs in and guns out of the US. I’m totally on board with that fight.

But I can see way too much opportunity for abuse when the next anti-gun guy gets in the White House. I’m not like those who think that once you’re in office, your party will maintain control forever. The tide will shift because it always shifts. I don’t like the idea of someone like that having that kind of a monster at their beck and call.

If the ATF has concerns, too, well…