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 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 ...
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Prosecutors who asked a federal court to seal the records in the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol ...
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
On January 6, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) informed the Nevada Sheriffs’ and ...
Friday, January 6, 2012
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) announced this week that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will testify on Feb. 2 ...
Friday, January 6, 2012
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) announced this week that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will testify on Feb. 2 ...
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. will testify again before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on ...
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Election season is here, and you might think President Obama would be going out of his way to ...
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Following is a chronological presentation of the Fast & Furious scandal from the beginning to present day. Please ...
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