{"id":110835,"date":"2025-06-21T14:44:56","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T19:44:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=110835"},"modified":"2025-06-21T14:44:56","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T19:44:56","slug":"110835","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=110835","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

ATF very worried about merging with DEA<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Officially, no one is talking about the merger, which would likely require congressional approval.<\/p>\n

Unofficially, the ATF is going a bit nuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cATF leadership is trying to fight this and convince everyone it\u2019s not a good idea to merge the two organizations,\u201d said John \u201cJC\u201d Clark of<\/span>\u00a0FFL Consultants<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Clark is former law enforcement and a former corporate compliance officer. The firm he cofounded,\u00a0FFL Consultants<\/a>, trains hundreds of gun dealers each month and thousands annually, virtually and in person. Few understand ATF\u2019s innerworkings better than Clark and his team.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Very few want to discuss the merger, even retirees.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnybody that\u2019s retired has said they\u2019re so happy they\u2019re retired,\u201d Clark said.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Public affairs at ATF refused to even discuss the merger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot. I would refer you to DOJ,\u201d ATF spokesman Doug Shores said in an email.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe refer you to the Department of Justice,\u201d DEA Media Affairs said in an email.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Public affairs at the DOJ did not respond to emails seeking their comments.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the buzz within the ATF is not good.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone appears to be curious as to what is to come Oct. 1st.\u201d Clark said.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Restructuring and combing the two agencies would be a massive challenge, especially after what occurred during former-President Joe Biden\u2019s term in office.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the Biden administration, I had fairly good relations with the bulk of the ATF. If there were situations where we could backchannel comms, we would do that. Under Trump, from my perspective, the vast majority of the ATF claimed it did not agree with what Biden did. His zero-tolerance position hurt them. Although they may not have been in agreement with the administration\u2019s policies, it was prudent to insure they followed policies, or they\u2019d be out of a job,\u201d Clark said.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

During an interview with Cam Edwards<\/a>, National Shooting Sports Foundation senior vice president and general counsel Larry Keane said the\u00a0NSSF\u00a0<\/a>strongly opposes the ATF\/DEA merger. The firearms industry would be better off with \u201cstructural reforms\u201d to the ATF instead, Keane said.<\/p>\n

Gun Owners of America<\/a>\u00a0took strong issue with the merger, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cMerging is not abolishing,\u201d GOA said in social media posts. \u201cIt\u2019s a DANGEROUS Trojan Horse.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Clark and his staff don\u2019t want to see the ATF\/DEA merger either. He has always tried to maintain partnerships with ATF\u2019s field divisions, supporting education and compliance of ATF\u2019s regulations, as well as their mission to maintain public safety.<\/p>\n

With the merger, Clark fears his good relations may end. The firearm industry is truly interested in preventing firearms from getting into the wrong hands, while maintaining strict compliance. Any change of this magnitude could cause confusion or anarchy, by requiring his staff to educate a new governmental body, Clark said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019d rather keep the devil I know, rather than the devil I don\u2019t,\u201d he said<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ATF very worried about merging with DEA 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 … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bureaucraps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110836,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110835\/revisions\/110836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}