Disarming Americans is a sore subject around these parts, as it should be, considering the natural right to self-preservation recognized by our Constitution. But, something tells me today’s disarmament discussion may be better received, as this time it is focused on the federal government, specifically the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Republican Representative Barry Moore from Alabama has introduced a bill that seeks to disarm the agency aptly named the Why Does The IRS Need Guns Act. 

Before we get into the details of the bill, we must discuss the weaponization of the IRS, particularly during the agency’s COVID-era 50-state hiring spree, which saw the addition of 87,000 new agents and an arsenal that has left Americans wondering to what extent the tax collector might be exercising its authority. According to Open The Books, where a petition has been posted to disarm the IRS, the agency has spent $35.2 million on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment since 2006, including $10 million between 2020 and 2021 to arm special agents with arrest powers. 

Expenditures…

-Smith & Wesson M&P 15 Rifles: $474,000

-Beretta 1301 Tactical Shotguns: $463,000

-Body Armor: $243,000

-Ammunition: $2.3 million

-Ballistic Riot Shields: $1.2 million

This equipment constitutes less than half of the $10 million, which is spread out among tactical lighting, gear bags, holsters, ballistic helmets, optics,andother line-items, including a conspicuous $1.3 million for “various other gear for criminal investigation agents.”

Before 2020, the IRS had managed to stockpile 5 million rounds of ammunition and 4,500 firearms for its 2,159 special agents, including 621 pump-action and semi-automatic shotguns, 539 semi-automatic rifles, and 15 submachine guns.

“The IRS has consistently been weaponized against American citizens, targeted religious organizations, journalists, gun owners, and everyday Americans… Arming these agents does not make the American public safer. My legislation, the Why Does the IRS Need Guns Act, would disarm these agents, auction off their guns to Federal Firearms License Owners, and sell their ammunition to the public. The only thing IRS agents should be armed with are calculators,” according to Moore.

The Why Does the IRS Need Guns Act would force the IRS to relinquish possession of all the agency’s guns and ammunition to the General Services Administration (GSA). GSA would then oversee the sale or auction of all firearms, minus the machine guns, to federal firearms licensees (FFLs) across the country, and all the ammunition to the general public within 30 days. The bill would further prohibit the IRS from using appropriated funds to obtain or maintain any firearms or ammunition. 

The new law would apply to all departments of the IRS, including the agency’s Criminal Investigation (CI) division tasked with investigating financial crimes like money laundering, tax-related identity theft, and terrorism financing, which would be consumed by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The Why Does the IRS Need Guns Act is cosponsored by Republican Representatives Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Mary Miller of Illinois, and Clay Higgins of Louisiana.

“It is a shocking fact that the Biden administration spent over $10 million on firearms and ammunition for IRS employees. This is especially troubling in light of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government’s investigation into the IRS which exposed patterns of political targeting and harassment by agents. I am proud to support Congressman Moore’s bill which rightly strips the IRS of its arsenal and transfers the Criminal Investigations Division to the Department of Justice. The Why Does the IRS Need Guns Act will ensure the agency sticks to its mission of collecting revenue rather than moonlighting as a paramilitary law enforcement agency susceptible to politicization,” said Congresswoman Hageman.

This isn’t the first time this bill has been introduced, as a previous attempt did not make it to the House floor. Representative Moore hopes this current effort will make it to the floor for a vote. The Senate, on the other hand, is a different hill to climb entirely, requiring a super-majority, something Republicans do not have to pass the measure to the Oval Office. 

The hypocrisy is palpable with this one. The government has gone to great efforts to convince us that we do not need firearms to protect ourselves and our loved ones from the criminal element, much less its own tyranny. I find it curious, then, why the same government feels it needs a standing army with such an arsenal to collect taxes.