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.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
A "straw purchase" case that goes before the Supreme Court in October will be an important test. When ...
Friday, August 2, 2013
Following in the well-worn footsteps of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his Blueprint for Federal Action on ...
Friday, July 12, 2013
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to send President Obama's nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, ...
Friday, July 12, 2013
Before we knew that the IRS was targeting conservative groups, what a mess the Obama administration would make ...
Friday, July 12, 2013
With all of the scandals the Obama administration has been involved in of late, it's not surprising that ...
Monday, June 24, 2013
On May 31, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ...
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
The national debate over gun control has died down, but there were moments of high tension Tuesday as ...
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
An independent Justice Department watchdog is probing allegations that President Barack Obama"s nominee to lead the Bureau of ...
Monday, March 25, 2013
Gun control advocates complain that Congress stopped the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from making firearms ...
Friday, March 1, 2013
After a series of meetings with the nra and other organizations representing hunters, members of the firearm and ...
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