ATF seizes 36K guns as Trump administration shifts focus from Biden priorities to cartels, street crime

FIRST ON FOX: Federal agents seized more than 36,000 illegal firearms, including thousands bound for Mexico, since President Donald Trump took office, according to newly released figures by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The ATF also seized more than 2.3 million rounds of ammunition, saying Wednesday the illegal firearms and rounds originated with gang members and transnational criminal organizations, among others. The announcement marked a shift from the Biden administration's ATF, whose seizures focused on ghost guns, pistol braces and other regulatory priorities, in addition to illegal trafficking.

The Trump administration has focused its efforts on combating street crime, gang violence and drug cartels. ATF Deputy Director Robert Cekada said the agency was aggressively pursuing what he described as sprawling networks of both domestic and international criminal organizations and gangs who traffic illegal firearms in and out of the country.

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"Illegal crime guns increasingly originate from every state in the country. This is not a southwest border problem, it is a national threat," Cekada said in a statement. "ATF agents are aggressively targeting gangs, cartels and transnational criminal organizations that illegally traffic firearms and turn American streets into war zones."

The ATF said its seizures included intercepting 4,359 guns and more than 648,000 rounds of ammunition that were headed for Mexico, where authorities said they would have been used by violent gangs and drug cartels.

In addition to guns, the Justice Department revealed in September that the ATF and other agencies seized more than 2 million unauthorized vaping products, which Cekada recently said often came from China but were also "very closely affiliated with the cartels in Mexico."

The gun figures showcase a key part of the ATF’s work — investigating gun trafficking and confiscating firearms from people illegally in possession of them.

ATF agents use ballistics and tracing databases and DNA evidence to investigate the guns’ origins with the aim of uncovering their supply chains and identifying potential offenders. The seized guns are typically returned to their rightful owners or eventually destroyed.

The surge in such seizures comes amid scrutiny over how the administration is balancing its enforcement authorities with Second Amendment protections.

The Trump administration recently drew criticism from gun rights groups after top officials initially justified immigration officers killing a Minnesota man because he appeared to be legally carrying a firearm. Likewise, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro recently warned that people who bring guns into Washington, D.C., were "going to jail," spurring backlash from Second Amendment advocates like Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., who said he brings a gun into D.C. weekly with a valid permit.

The ATF noted its agents were focused not on lawful gun commerce, but rather on traffickers who arm gang members, drug cartels, illegal immigrants, terrorist organizations and other people prohibited from owning guns.