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.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Newly-released documents show that last February, on an official visit to Mexico, Justice Department official Lanny Breuer suggested ...
Monday, January 30, 2012
A document the Department of Justice sent to Congress Friday shows that Eric Holder's deputy chief of staff ...
Friday, January 27, 2012
Recently, a federal district court in Washington, D.C. issued a ruling upholding an Obama administration policy that requires ...
Friday, January 27, 2012
In a move that stunned members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the chief of the ...
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
As Arizona state officials open their own probe into Operation Fast and Furious, the head of the House ...
Friday, January 20, 2012
Last week, a federal district court in Washington, D.C. issued a ruling upholding an Obama administration policy that ...
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Gun dealers backed by the National Rifle Association, a powerful lobbying group, and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, ...
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Ruling in a suit brought by gun dealers and backed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation as well ...
Friday, January 13, 2012
Moments before this alert was to go out, a federal district court in Washington, D.C. issued a ruling ...
Friday, January 13, 2012
In the late summer of 2010, the ATF agent leading the failed Fast and Furious gun smuggling operation ...