A report from CNN indicates FBI director Kash Patel — who is also ATF acting director — plans to cut “as many as 1,000 ATF agents” and move them to the FBI.
This will represent a cut of roughly one third of the ATF’s current agents.
BREAKING
Kash Patel plans to cut as many as 1,000 ATF agents and reassign them to the FBI—a nearly 40% decrease.
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) March 23, 2025
According to CNN:
The move represents a major cutback of the ATF, an agency that long has been in the crosshairs of gun rights groups that believe its work infringes on Second Amendment rights. The ATF has about 2,600 agents and more than 5,000 employees, a number that has remained largely unchanged for years.
Gabby Giffords’ gun-control group, Giffords, responded to news of Patel’s plans with a post to X, which said, “This decision would increase crime and hurt law enforcement. The ATF is the only federal law enforcement agency stopping gun traffickers from flooding communities across the country with illegal guns. Weakening the ATF will make all us less safe.”
