NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — While the bromance of President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk has fizzled, the Department of Government Efficiency that’s most closely associated with Musk lives on.

DOGE is now training its aim on ATF — the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as first reported by The Washington Post. DOGE will look at two main areas to target waste, fraud and abuse — the number of regulations surrounding gun ownership and the number of regulators who keep gun dealers in line.

10 On Your Side spoke with two key local figures whose fortunes and tragic misfortunes pivot around the Second Amendment.

Steve Dowdy owns Bob’s Gun Shop, a downtown Norfolk redoubt for the Second Amendment for 80 years. Dowdy agrees that ATF could use some recalibration, but he’s confident it won’t bring us back the wild West.

“[Some might think] we’re going to be giving guns away and no background checks and things like that,” he said. “That’s not going to happen.”

Bilal Muhammad sees himself as a gun violence suppressor, and his mission began long before his own son, Ali, was shot to death two summers ago in Ocean View. Muhammad wants more oversight, not less.

“There should be a more slow and more precise process in the restriction department, and that can really enforce more authority and accountability,” Muhammad said. He says his son’s suspected killer used a Weapon known as a “ghost gun.”

“You cannot trace these ghost guns,” Muhammad said. “These ghost guns have come into the hands of those that are killing innocent people.”

The Supreme Court ruled this year that ghost guns kits are essentially weapons themselves and must be regulated with serial numbers, background checks and age verification.

That’s what you swear to when you complete ATF Form 4473.

Deja Taylor, the mother of the six-year-old Richneck Elementary School student who shot and wounded his teacher, lied on her 4473 form about drug use. She landed in federal prison.

Dowdy said where DOGE could improve is the process of purchasing a gun. As a licensed dealer, he has to keep every single seven-page form in hard copy for at least 20 years.

“We’re running out of room to put forms,” he said. “I’ve got a huge room full of forms.”

DOGE is also looking to reduce the number of agents who inspect gun dealers. Dowdy said when they come into his shop, they come in force.

“The last [inspection] we had six or seven agents in here,” he said. “They go over every form, front to back, and make sure everything is filled out correctly. I think they were here for four days. We’ve had them as long as three weeks.”

Dowdy points out that he’s in favor of regulations that govern online sales and gun shows.

“Any time somebody orders one online, it has to be shipped in to a dealer, so it gets shipped in here,” he said. “The person comes in, fills out the forms, does the background checks. And gun shows are the same way. When you go to a gun show, you’re going through the paperwork.”

While DOGE decides whether to take Musk’s proverbial chainsaw or a scalpel to ATF, Muhammad prepares to re-live his son’s murder at the upcoming trial. He wonders whether the DOGE effort will be a silencer for what he sees as good gun guidelines.

“Where are these weapons coming from,” Muhammad said. “Who is really committing these crimes out here?”

Published reports stated DOGE’s assessment of ATF was to be completed by July 4. A revised schedule was unavailable.

Everytown for Gun Safety states 125 people in the U.S. are killed with guns every day, and 250 are shot and wounded. The National Rifle Association did not respond to 10 On Your Side’s request for comment, but posted earlier this year that ATF is out of control and has become too political.