Republicans are lining up behind a bill that would take guns out of the hands of federal tax collectors.

The bill would prohibit the IRS from buying, receiving, or storing firearms and ammunition. The agency has spent $10 million on ammunition since 2020, according to It would also require the IRS to sell off all the guns it already to licensed dealers. And the bill would require the IRS to transfer Criminal Investigations Division to the Department of Justice.

Since 2006, the IRS has spent $35.2 million on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment, according to an investigation by the nonprofit Open the Books, a spending watchdog. Since 2020, the IRS bought $10 million in weaponry and gear, according to a report from the group. The report also noted that the IRS had nearly 2,100 special agents. Included in the IRS purchases were $2.3 million for ammunition, $1.2 million for ballistic shields, $474,000 for Smith & Wesson rifles, and $463,000 for Baretta 1301 tactical shotguns.

Those weapons would be auctioned off under terms of the bill, which would require the IRS to transfer its gun collection to the General Services Administration. GSA would then have to sell and auction of the firearms to licensed dealers and the ammunition to the public.

U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., who introduced the Why Does the IRS Need Guns Act, said the taxman doesn't need to be armed.

"The IRS has consistently been weaponized against American citizens, targeted religious organizations, journalists, gun owners, and everyday Americans," Moore said. "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."

U.S. Reps. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., Mary Miller, R-Ill., and Clay Higgins, R-La., cosponsored the measure.

"There is absolutely zero justification for wasting taxpayer dollars to arm a federal agency that was never meant to act as an enforcement arm of the government," Miller said. "The IRS doesn't need a stockpile of guns and ammunition – it needs proper transparency, oversight, and accountability."

Hageman said the IRS doesn't need tactical shotguns.

"The weaponization of the IRS against working Americans is a threat to our Constitutional freedoms," she said. "IRS agents should not hit homes and businesses like SWAT teams, and they should not terrorize American families. This legislation disarms the IRS."