BATFE, Firearm Importation & Federal Firearm Law Reform
Among its duties, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) monitors firearm manufacturers, importers and dealers for compliance with record-keeping requirements; conducts traces on the commercial paths of individual firearms at the request of law enforcement agencies; interprets firearm importation law; and administers transfers of firearms regulated by the National Firearm Act of 1934.
The BATFE was used by the Clinton administration to reduce the number of firearm dealers, and by the administrations of presidents G. H. W. Bush and Clinton to restrict “assault weapons” by misinterpreting firearm importation law. The agency’s tracing data, sometimes useful in identifying persons involved in illegally trafficking firearms, have been mischaracterized by gun control supporters in the context of their campaigns against “Saturday Night Specials” and “assault weapons,” and in favor of making state gun laws more restrictive.
BATFE has been widely criticized for its role in the “Ruby Ridge” and “Waco” tragedies, and Operation Fast and Furious, in which the agency knowingly allowed firearms to be bought by straw purchasers and other traffickers, and thereafter smuggled from the United States to Mexico, where they made their way to violent drug cartels.
Friday, May 27, 2016
On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2017 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations bill. The bill funds the ...
Monday, April 11, 2016
Iowa last week became the 42nd state to legalize gun silencers, but consumers wanting to acquire them face ...
Monday, April 4, 2016
Sen. Lisa Murkowski picked up an issue Lower 48 states with legal marijuana still haven’t resolved in a ...
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
One of the guns that Mexican officials say was found at the hideout of drug lord Joaquin "El ...
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Remember a year ago – February 13, 2015, to be precise – when the Obama administration presented a ...
Friday, January 29, 2016
On January 11, approximately 90 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter to President Barack ...
Friday, January 22, 2016
A sharp memory and respect for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms go hand in hand. The Second ...
Thursday, January 21, 2016
A .50-caliber weapon recovered from Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's hideout came from the ATF's botched Arizona case known ...
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
A federal judge has rejected President Barack Obama's assertion of executive privilege to deny Congress access to records ...
Friday, November 6, 2015
You may be wondering why CBS 60 Minutes aired a segment on “smart” guns last Sunday. After all, a gun ...
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