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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.

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News  

Monday, September 26, 2011

The Cover-Up

No longer content with simply stonewalling a congressional investigation into “Operation Fast and Furious,” President Barack Obama’s Justice ...

News  

Monday, September 12, 2011

"Fast and Furious" scandal has Obama administration in full cover-up mode

The more we learn about the “Fast and Furious” scandal — in which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, ...

News  

Thursday, August 25, 2011

'Fast and Furious' Agents Get Promoted

In federal bureaucracy, promoted men don’t talk, and nowhere is there a more glaring example than the recent ...

News  

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

NRA Supports Lawsuit Challenging the Obama Administration’s Multiple Sales Reporting Requirement

The National Rifle Association is fully funding and supporting a lawsuit challenging the Obama administration’s demand that Federal ...

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

U.S. House Committee Passes Amendment to Defund Illegal Obama Firearm Sales Reporting Requirement

Today, during consideration of the FY 2012 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill, pro-gun U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) ...

News  

Monday, July 11, 2011

NRA Statement on Obama Administration Decision to Require Rifle Sales Reporting

$40 billion transnational criminal enterprises don't fill out paperwork and are not deterred by paperwork violations. This is ...

News  

Friday, July 1, 2011

Fast and Fraudulent

You have to look back at recent history to understand the origins and true danger to our liberty ...

News  

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Border Battle Heats Up

In spite of a rejection by the White House and a strong show of congressional support for gun ...

News  

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Standing Guard: BATFE A "Fase and Furious" Scandal

With the shooting death of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in a remote Arizona canyon by armed ...

Hunting  

Thursday, June 9, 2011

NRA-Backed Bills Progress in Louisiana Legislature

Yesterday, the House Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice unanimously passed Senate Bill 39 by a voice vote, ...

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NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.