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, October 6, 2020
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) recently informed firearm manufacturer Q, LLC that, in ATF’s view, Q’s ...
Monday, September 14, 2020
Early this month, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) released two new procedure documents.
Monday, June 15, 2020
In an arrangement unique to Washington, D.C., the local police department is the only federally licensed firearms dealer ...
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Nearly a decade has passed since the public first learned of the botched Obama-era gunwalking scandal Operation Fast ...
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
The arrest last December of a former Mexican security minister in the U.S. on drug charges has compelled ...
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
The California Department of Justice on Monday filed an "emergency regulations" proposal. If adopted, Californians would be required ...
Friday, May 10, 2019
Shannon Watts has developed her persona as a “full-time volunteer” who wants nothing more than to bring “common ...
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) unabashedly embraced the tactics behind one of the most shameful policies ...
Friday, December 21, 2018
This week, the Department of Justice announced that it would soon be releasing a final rule classifying “bump-stock-type-devices” ...
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
David Chipman, a retired Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agent, on Monday said AR-15 rifles ...