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.
Monday, April 8, 2024
Some reckonings are a long time coming. The District of Columbia’s irrational hostility to all things gun-related and ...
Monday, March 11, 2024
Those worried that Biden’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was so busy harassing well-meaning gun dealers and owners ...
Thursday, February 1, 2024
NRA-ILA filed an amicus curiae (or friend of the court) brief in the United States Supreme Court urging ...
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
"The Biden ATF's proposed rule, ATF2022R-17, is just another attempt to demolish our Second Amendment rights, with the ...
Monday, October 30, 2023
Astute gun owners will recall the Obama administration’s Operation Fast and Furious scandal. Under that operation, Bureau of ...
Monday, September 11, 2023
Your help is urgently needed, as the official comment period on ATF’s rulemaking, “Definition of ‘Engaged in the ...
Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Last Thursday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) announced a new proposed rule on the “Definition ...
Sunday, September 3, 2023
The National Rifle Association responded this week to the Biden administration’s proposed rule requiring more background checks to ...
Friday, September 1, 2023
NRA-ILA Executive Director Randy Kozuch released the following statement regarding the Biden ATF's action to sidestep Congress with ...
Monday, August 21, 2023
Political observers expect the Washington Post and the New York Times to carry water for Joe Biden’s Department ...
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