With 87,000 New Agents On Way, 4 Facts About IRS Gun Arsenal

Some of the 87,000 new agents whom Democrats propose to hire at the Internal Revenue Service could come with some extra firepower

• Two federal investigations in the past decade found that IRS agents had not been sufficiently trained and were accident-prone with the weapons they have
• Armed IRS raids on nonviolent taxpayers surfaced as a concern almost 25 years ago during a Senate hearing
• During the House floor debate Friday, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., raised concerns about arming IRS agents
• Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., suggested that no IRS agents are armed

Guns and Ammo

• The current IRS workforce includes 78,661 full-time employees, so Democrats' legislation, if passed as written, would more than double the agency's employees
• A 2020 report from Open the Books shows that the IRS Criminal Investigation Division has a stockpile of 4,600 guns
• Firearms include 3,282 pistols, 621 shotguns, 539 rifles, 15 fully automatic firearms, and four revolvers

Armed Agents ‘Not Properly Trained’

• There is no national level review of firearms training records to ensure that all special agents meet the qualification requirements.
• Special agents not properly trained in the use of firearms could endanger the public, as well as their fellow special agents, and expose the IRS to possible litigation.

More Unintended Discharges Than Intended Ones

• Poor firearms training for IRS agents has led to more accidental firings than intentional firings, according to a separate inspector general’s report from 2012.
• If there is insufficient oversight, special agents in possession of firearms who are not properly trained and qualified could endanger other special agents and the public.

IRS History of Armed Raids

• In 1998, the Senate Finance Committee held investigative hearings into IRS abuses that featured testimony from a Virginia restaurant owner.
• The restaurant owner said that armed IRS agents with drug-sniffing dogs burst into his restaurant during breakfast hours and ordered customers to get out. Agents took his cash register and records, the restaurant owner told the Senate committee.
• 1. “Having the availability of deadly force puts hiring so many new agents into perspective,” Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, told The Daily Signal.
  2. “This bill has new IRS agents and they are armed, and the job description tells them that they need to be required to carry a firearm and expect to use deadly force if necessary,” Boebert said.
  3. Patsalides, told senators that the IRS had tolerated car thefts and anonymous bullying by promoting an agent accused of sexual harassment and allowing agents to conduct armed raids on nonviolent taxpayers.
  4. Agents took his cash register and records, the restaurant owner told the Senate committee.
  5. The owner of a Texas oil company recounted that agents came to his office and told employees: “Remove your hands from the keyboards and back away from the computers.
  6. The report says that 79 of the 459 special agents in the agency’s long gun cadre failed to meet standard qualification requirements.
  7. Further, the report says the IRS could not provide information about whether 1,500 special agents were trained in tactical equipment proficiency.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/08/12/with-87000-new-agents-on-way-4-facts-about-irs-gun-arsenal/