While American taxpayers are familiar with the annual rigmarole of filing their federal taxes and realizing just how much of their hard-earned money Uncle Sam is taking away, several House Republicans are pushing a proposal to take some things away from the Internal Revenue Service: Guns and ammunition.
The ‘Why Does the IRS Need Guns Act’ would disarm the federal agency, prohibiting the commissioner of internal revenue from using funds to buy, receive or store firearms and ammo, and requiring the transfer of IRS firearms and ammunition to the Administrator of General Services.
The guns would then be sold or auctioned to licensed dealers and the ammo would be auctioned to the public.
Proceeds would go to ‘the general fund of the Treasury for the sole purpose of deficit reduction,’ the measure stipulates.
The bill states that ‘there are transferred to the Department of Justice the authorities, functions, personnel, and assets of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service, which shall be maintained as a distinct entity within the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, including the related functions of the Secretary of the Treasury.’
Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., introduced the measure, which is backed by three original cosponsors: GOP Reps. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Mary Miller of Illinois, and Clay Higgins of Louisiana.
The IRS says on its website that its ‘mission is to provide America’s taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and to enforce the law with integrity and fairness to all.’
But Moore claimed that the federal agency has regularly been ‘weaponized.’
‘The IRS has consistently been weaponized against American citizens, targeted religious organizations, journalists, gun owners, and everyday Americans,’ Moore asserted, according to a press release.
‘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.’
