Following the second attempt on former President Donald Trump's life over the weekend, former FBI counterintelligence director Frank Figliuzzi outlined three urgent steps the federal government needs to take to ensure public safety and the safety of candidates, in a new analysis for MSNBC.
A man with a high-powered rifle was arrested and faces weapons charges after apparently trying to open fire on Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort Sunday. This comes about two months after a young gunman opened fire on a Trump rally in western Pennsylvania, injuring the former president's ear, killing one and leaving two others in the crowd critically hurt.
"The truth is that the Secret Service didn’t fail on Sunday. Agents spotted a rifle barrel pointing through the shrubs along the golf course fence line. While some agents safeguarded Trump, others fired shots at the suspect," wrote Figliuzzi — which stands in contrast to the security failures that led to the close call in July. That said, Figliuzzi continued, three things have to happen now.
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First of all, he wrote, Congress needs to double the size and budget of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, which has languished underfunded for years.
"The ATF is woefully understaffed and barely able to do what we’re asking of it, including find stolen guns and arrest people who unlawfully manufacture weapons or parts like ghost guns and fully automatic weapons, trace weapons found at crime scenes and halt the illegal flow of weapons into the United States," he said.
The agency has just 3,000 agents and Congress continues to slash their budget.
Second, said Figliuzzi, all the Secret Service's responsibilities unrelated to security should be transferred to other departments, including investigating financial crimes such as counterfeiting, forgery, theft, and credit card fraud, as well as threats to financial systems.
"These duties are remnants of the agency’s history under the Treasury Department," he said, adding that it no longer makes sense for them to be in their mandate. "Those responsibilities can be divvied up among Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI and U.S. Postal Inspectors."
And finally, the U.S. should crack down on the proliferation of assault-style weapons, he argued.
"Research shows that not only are these weapons preferred by mass shooters, but past federal bans on such weapons actually worked to reduce mass shootings," wrote Figliuzzi — no matter how difficult the politics of doing so would be.
"Trump has been the target of two attempted assassinations in close to two months, with both assailants carrying an assault-style weapon," he concluded. "The man who brags that he did nearly nothing in the face of horrific mass shootings during his term should realize it’s time to act."
