Biden's IRS stockpiled AR-15 rifles, submachine guns, and 5 million rounds of ammunition.
A new government watchdog report just revealed what Trump did to that arsenal.
Trump finally answered the question conservatives have been asking about the IRS for a decade.
Biden Spent $10 Million Weaponizing the IRS in Two Years
For years, conservatives asked one question the Biden administration refused to answer: why does the IRS need AR-15s?
Since 2006, the IRS has spent $35.2 million on guns, ammunition and military-style equipment.
That pace exploded under Biden.
In 2020 and 2021 alone, the IRS spent $10 million on weapons and combat gear.
That money bought $474,000 in Smith & Wesson rifles, $463,000 in Beretta 1301 tactical shotguns, and $2.5 million in ballistic shields and tactical combat gear.
Before Biden's spending spree even started, the IRS had stockpiled 4,500 firearms – including 539 semi-automatic rifles, 621 shotguns, and 15 submachine guns – plus 5 million rounds of ammunition.
Then Biden handed the agency another $80 billion through the Inflation Reduction Act and authorized hiring 87,000 new agents.
Republicans warned those agents would be sent after working-class Americans and small business owners – not wealthy tax cheats.
Democrats called those concerns a conspiracy theory.
Alabama Rep. Barry Moore had seen enough.
He introduced the "Why Does the IRS Need Guns Act" – legislation to strip the IRS of every firearm and transfer them to the General Services Administration for auction.
"The only thing IRS agents should be armed with are calculators," Moore said.
Congress didn't pass it – but Trump heard the message.
Trump Moved to Disarm the IRS While ICE Got the Arsenal Biden Refused to Build
Open the Books just published FY2026 spending data across nearly 70 federal agencies.
IRS weapons spending dropped 47% – from $2.4 million to $1.3 million.
The agency bought zero guns.
The IRS still spent money on body armor and ammunition – but not a single new firearm entered its gun locker under Trump's watch.
Nine federal agencies wiped their weapons budgets entirely – among them the Social Security Administration, the FDA, Federal Prison Industries and the Indian Health Service.
The Veterans Affairs Administration, the General Services Administration and the Bureau of Reclamation also slashed weapons spending, with the GSA's Federal Acquisition Service alone accounting for $15.3 million of that.
Open the Books founder Adam Andrzejewski has tracked 103 non-DOD federal agencies buying weapons since 2006 – including 76 with no obvious law enforcement function.
Under Trump, those pencil-pushing bureaucracies are being disarmed – and ICE is being armed instead.
ICE weapons spending jumped from $15 million in FY2024 to $57.2 million in FY2026.
That's nearly a fourfold increase in a single year.
Across DHS as a whole, weapons spending surged from $60.8 million to $204.4 million – a 236 percent increase in a single fiscal year.
Biden had the tax man armed and the border open – Trump reversed both.
The Democrats' logic was always backward.
You – the law-abiding American – can't be trusted with a semi-automatic rifle.
But the bureaucrat auditing your taxes can have a full locker of them.
The same politicians who pushed red flag laws and assault weapons bans were comfortable with IRS agents carrying Smith & Wesson rifles and Beretta tactical shotguns – purchased with your tax dollars.
Andrzejewski and former Sen. Tom Coburn first exposed this arms buildup in the Wall Street Journal in 2016 and warned Congress it had to stop.
Biden ignored them and doubled down.
The federal government's gun buildup at non-law enforcement agencies was a two-decade problem.
Trump is the first president to reverse it.
Open the Books CEO John Hart wrote in the Washington Examiner that DOGE's mandate was to disarm the IRS – not just audit it.
Trump didn't just cut spending – he realigned which Americans the federal government is pointing its guns at.
The IRS went a full year without buying a single new gun while ICE nearly quadrupled its firepower – the federal government is finally pointed at the right people.
Sources:
- Adam Andrzejewski, "Disarming The Pencil Pushers? Administrative Agencies Begin To Cut Spending On Guns, Ammo," Open the Books/ZeroHedge, October 25, 2026.
- John Hart, "DOGE Must Audit and Disarm the IRS," Washington Examiner, March 6, 2025.
- Tom Coburn and Adam Andrzejewski, "Why Does the IRS Need Guns?," Wall Street Journal, June 2016.
- Washington Free Beacon Staff, "Non-Law Enforcement Agencies Like IRS and EPA Spend Billions on Guns and Ammo," Washington Free Beacon, May 2, 2023.
- Fox News, "Bill Taking Aim at IRS Would Strip Agency of Guns, Ammo," Fox News, April 2026.
